


Roll Initiative

by simplypants



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Friends to Lovers, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Medium Burn, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Not completely a text msg fic tho, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Panic Attacks, Podcaster AU, Texting, Trans Character, Trans Keith (Voltron), broganes, convention setting, idk man these boys are hecking gay, the kids are not alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 04:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13380480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplypants/pseuds/simplypants
Summary: Lance is a Physics student who runs the morning shift on the campus radio station and a b-rate film review podcast with his best friend and roommate, Hunk.  After their previous roommates drop out last minute, Pidge and Keith end up staying in their hotel room for Pod Con.  Following their tradition with their podcasting family of "Day Zero Dungeons and Dragons," hosted by Matt Holt, the four of them decide they want to run their own longer campaign.Bi-weekly, Pidge leads these mostly-fearless adventurers through their campaign that they record and post for their online listeners.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for tuning in! 
> 
> In each section, the first name mentioned corresponds with who's perspective we're looking at.
> 
> Italics during campaigns indicate a character voice!
> 
> Notes about this story:  
> It's not /about/ Keith being trans, he just is. Any Keith can be trans and this one specifically is. The same can be said about Pidge. As well as everyone else in here, why just limit it to those two?
> 
> I definitely started writing headcanons for this in the 3 weeks I did nothing but listen to Adventure Zone last summer, so I'll post other things that didn't make it into the fic on tumblr.

“Hello listeners.  Hope you’re enjoying this week’s episode of Legends From Your Backyard.  We will be continuing this story of The Jersey Devil in two weeks once Pidge is done with their final exams.  Don’t forget to check out the different shows also hosted by The Pod Net like Biologic Phenomena, StarTalk, and Flick Hack.”  Keith took a breath, leaning away from his mic while recording the commercial messages, reading over the script he typed up during his lunch break.  “Don’t forget, PodCon is coming up in about a month, and while we won’t be doing a live show, both Pidge and I will be attending this year along with a lot of other really cool ‘casters on the network.  If you’re in the LA area, come check it out and stop by our table.  We’ll be tweeting out the location once it’s announced.  If you’re not, there is a livestream pass that you can purchase to have live feed from the shows all weekend.  Either way if you want to register, use the promo code Legends to get a five dollar discount.

“Thanks again for tuning in and if you like something we talk about, let us know.  If you see something strange in your backyard, let us know about that too.  We’re on the twitter at LegendsFYB and you can email us at LegendsFYB@AlteAudio.org.  If you’re enjoying what you’re listening to, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes and tell your friends because we are just a couple of broke millennials living paycheck to paycheck who don’t spend anything on advertising.”  Keith glanced up and down his list, checking that he hasn’t forgotten any of his announcements.  Content with the speech so far, as most of it is repeated biweekly, he continued, “While you’re listening, send some positive vibes Pidge’s way and hope they get some sleep between exams and code reviews in the next week and we will be back with the next installment in two weeks.  Now let’s get back to this week’s episode.”

He cut the recording there.  He listened to his third recording of the same message.  Finally satisfied, he copied the recordings into the Dropbox folder for this week’s episode before typing an email out to Pidge.

 **To:** Pidge Holt [kholt6362@iit.edu]  
**Subject:** Jersey Devil 1

Hey Pidge,

I still don’t see why you won’t let me edit since you’re too stuck in exams to even record this week but oh well.  I did a rough cut already and everything you need is in the drop box (except all the sound effects but those are somewhere on your external drive that I don’t even want to start looking for).

Come home soon I’ll even make you dinner if you’re not stuck in the lab all night again.

-K

Keith sent the email before abandoning his computer.  It was the first time in a while he had a day off and his body was screaming for a nap.  After 4 consecutive 10 out of 12’s, he needed it.

\---

Keith woke up three hours later to the X-Files theme song blaring by his ear.  Still half asleep he swatted towards his phone, managing to slide a finger across the screen to answer.  “It’s Kogane.”

“Keith!  Why didn’t you tell me?” Pidge practically screamed into his ear.

He sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, “Hold up, what didn’t I tell you?  I’m not psychic kid.”

He could hear Pidge’s exaggerated breath, “PodCon.  You said you had to work and couldn’t go, again.”

“Yeah, I talked to my supervisor for this project and she got someone else to AD for her on that shoot,” Keith clarified.

Pidge went quiet for a moment, clearly thinking, “So, don’t get me wrong I’m glad you’re going, but do you have housing figured out?  I mean it’s LA you can’t just crash in a car.  Wait, you’re not driving there are you?  That would just be too much, even for yo-”

“Pidge,” Keith interrupted their train of thought.

“Yeah?”

“Believe it or not, I may have put a thought or two into this before I told you.”

“What?  You, Mr. Impulse?  Actually thinking things through?”  Pidge laughed on the other end.  “You can’t blame me being surprised, Keith.”

Keith huffed out a breath, “Yeah, yeah.  Besides Shiro was the one who talked to me about it.  I’m crashing with him and Matt.”

“Are you sure about that?”  Pidge showed hesitation, “I know for a fact that you are the Lightest Sleeper In The World and Matt snores like a banshee.  Wait, I thought Shiro mentioned Allura’s staying with him too?”

“I have earplugs and no other options this late in the game.  The hotel is already booked up so it’s stay in Old Man City or two miles away.  And yeah, Allura and Coran are in too so it’s going to be a full room.  I’ll just pack an air mattress or something.”

Keith heard Pidge typing away on their laptop on the other end, “No, no you don’t just give me a minute.”

“Pidge don’t go and ask your roommates, I promise I’ll be fine.” Keith sighed.

“No well respecting best friend of mine will be sentenced to suffer in a hotel room with my shithead older brother.”  Pidge went quiet, typing out on their computer some more, “Ah, Sick as hell!”

“You’re sick as hell.”

“Shut up.”  Pidge said, “Message Shiro tell him you’re not rooming with them.  I got you space in my room.  Hunk gave me the okay.”

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Wait, your room wasn’t filled to the brim?”

“Nah, apparently their original roommates dropped out at the last minute and I messaged them like a day after they originally filled up so I was the first one to know they had the opening.  I didn’t realize they never filled the fourth slot.”  Pidge clarified.  “I’ll let Hunk know you’re in and have him add you to the group chat.”

Keith let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “Great, I guess I’ll message Shiro then.”

“Hell yeah you will, and when you do tell him Matt sucks.  Ah shit my group just showed up, I gotta go, Keith.  I’ll get this edited and sent in over the next few days.  Bye.”  Pidge didn’t wait for a reply before hanging up.

Keith removed his phone from his ear and before opening his chat bubble with Shiro he sent a text to Pidge.

To: **Pidge**

 **Keith:** Okay but are you coming home today? 

 **Keith:** I need to know if I can throw a mad rager in your absence

\---

By some miracle, Pidge and Keith got tickets for the same flight, so thankfully were able to split the LA cab fair.  Keith was too busy looking out the window, taking in the sights of Palm Trees and picturesque villas lining the streets, a combination he would have never expected, so he missed when Pidge first spoke up.  He turned, only to see Pidge staring at him, waiting for him to say something.  “I’m sorry?”

“If you were listening, you would have heard me say that Hunk and Lance are gonna meet us in the lobby to get us our room keys.  Hunk texted to make sure we landed alright and asked if we were hungry.  I told him that if the soundtrack of your stomach from the last 45 minutes of the flight was accurate that yes, you are in fact hungry.”

“I wouldn’t be if someone didn’t eat all my snacks on the last layover,” Keith mumbled, slouching back into his seat.  Pidge flicked his thigh.

“Shut up we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

It was on par with one of the longest ten minutes of his life.  He was half asleep again when Pidge was nudging him out of the car, signaling they made it to the hotel.  Keith leaned over to pay the cab driver before meeting Pidge at the trunk to pull out their luggage.  Pidge must have been on their phone the whole time because it wasn’t long before they were greeted by two guys with badges around their necks walking out of the hotel.

“Pidge!  Keith!  Glad you made it!”  Hunk called out.  Sure Keith had talked to him before, but it was only through mandated events and message boards their Network hosted.  He’d listened to their podcasts enough to know they had a big presence, but it still didn’t add up to how big their presence was in person.

Lance walked up by Pidge, ruffling their hair, “Yeah, we were beginning to worry that you were never gonna show!  Honestly I was real tempted to grab dinner without you both but Hunk insisted that you guys needed into the room or something.”  He reached for Pidge’s carry-on mid speech.  “I hope you all like sushi though, Allura recommended a place that’s a 10 minute walk away that I’m dying to try.” 

Hunk folded their, now abandoned, coats that Keith had placed on his bag before leading the pack into the hotel lobby.

Keith had been in his fair share of nice hotels.  Chicago was full of them and working for the local PBS station he had shot in a majority of them, but LA was on it’s own set of standards.  The lobby was about the size of a grand ballroom, with a blown glass sculpture serving as an elaborate centerpiece, with couches and tables surrounding it in all directions.  He felt like he was walking for miles just to cross the room before they reached the elevators.  Lance pressed the button while he was retelling some of the misadventures of his and Hunk’s drive from San Diego.  “So, needless to say the car is not leaving the parking garage until we’re checking out in 4 days.”  Lance says as Keith is pulled back in the conversation.

Before one of the elevators came back down, Keith heard a series of very loud voices approaching, “Well if it isn’t the ditcher himself.  First of all, I am personally offended that you would pick my younger sibling over me,” Matt started upon approaching the elevator, “Second of all you didn’t have to rub salt on the wound and call me an asshat.”  He pounded his chest mimicking a hurting blow.

Keith rolled his eyes, “Hey don’t blame me, it was all Pidge’s fault.”

“Thanks, dick.”  Pidge mumbled under their breath before turning to Shiro moving in next to Matt, “When did you all get in?”

“This morning,” Shiro said in his ever-cheerful tone that only slightly annoyed Keith in his jetlagged state.

Matt leaned in close to Shiro, loudly whispering to the younger group, “Yeah, cause someone had to go to pre-con board meetings or something.  Disgusting if you ask me.”

“No one did, Matt,” Pidge and Keith said at the same time as the elevator door opened. 

He threw up his hands in defense.  “Fine, if you’re going to keep dragging me like this maybe I won’t invite you all to the annual Pod Con Day Zero DND Session tonight.”

Pidge rolled their eyes, “Come on maybe you won’t invite us but Shiro’s too nice to leave us out.  It is tradition after all.”  Keith raised an eyebrow towards them, to which they responded with their ‘I’ll explain later’ gesture.

Matt glared at Shiro who shrugged and said, “What can I say, I can’t leave them out of tradition.”

“Traitor,” he narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, turning back to the door.

The door opened, and as Shiro and Matt got out of the elevator, Shiro turned to them, “Be in 615 at 8.  Bring drinks and your character sheets and die if you have them.  We have some extra sets but they’re on a first come first served basis.”

Pidge grinned, “Will do!”  As the door closed, they turned towards the three boys still in the elevator, “So you all in to fuck with Matt’s campaign once again?”

Hunk grinned wide, “Day 0 Traditions are always the highlights of Pod Con and I’m glad that this year will be no different.”

“Please, Pidge, I was born ready,” Lance laughed, “besides I didn’t spend last week building a new character for nothing!”

“Let me guess, they’re a half-elf, chaotic good, ranger who’s gonna go the archer path?”  Pidge side eyed him.  Lance furrowed his brows, “You know I love all of your characters, but you’re so predictable.”

Lance shrugged, “What can I say, I’m just very dexterous,” he said as the elevator door opened and he led the group down the hall on floor 10.

\---

Keith’s phone buzzing woke him up far before anyone else the next morning, not that he was complaining.  He rolled over to a text from his brother, responding as his eyes slowly adjusted to the screen brightness.

 **Shiro:** I know DND ran late last night but did you still want to run this morning?

 _Oh, right_.  Keith thought, rubbing sleep out of his eyes before typing out his response.

 **Keith:** Of course.  Meet you downstairs in 20?

He quickly gathered a set of running pants, workout binder, and shirt before sneaking into the bathroom to get changed.  Once he got out, he made sure to grab his phone and wallet from the bedside table before heading to the elevator. 

Shiro was already in the lobby by the time he made it down.  “Thought you went back to sleep.  I was getting ready to leave without you, kid.” 

“You’re one to talk, child,” Keith grumbled.  “Do you have a course in mind or did you just want to talk?”

Shiro laughed as he stood, “Can’t a guy just want to spend some time with his brother?  Come on, I’ll get coffee on our way back”

“Most people do,” Keith said, “but you?  There are always ulterior motives.  What’s up?”

Shiro sighed, defeated as they stepped out of the hotel, waiting to turn the block before breaking into a light jog, “I guess I didn’t get a chance to talk to you since you got in yesterday.”

“What are you talking about?  You had plenty to say when I couldn’t pick any of those locks last night.”

“And that’s why you don’t let Pidge make your character sheet without input.  You gotta try a fighter, that’s more suited for you.”  Shiro clarified.  “But all that aside, are you doing any better?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith responded, though sounding more like a question than an answer.  The last time he really got to see his brother was in his last semester of school, two weeks before he made the decision to not return for the following semester in order to keep better tabs on his mental health and save money on student loans before he figured out what he really wanted.  He knows he’ll go back when he’s ready, and Keith knows that now is not that time.  “Work’s been keeping me busy so at least I’m not sitting around counting cracks in the ceiling.”  He looked down at the sidewalk before turning back to Shiro, “How’s DC?”

He sighed deeply, “It’s good, but don’t think you can just change the subject on me.”  He glanced over at Keith, “Really though, are you alright?”

“God Shiro, you’re such a dad,” Keith rolled his eyes, “yes, I promise I’m doing fine.  They keeps me busy at the station and the rest of the time I’m recording with Pidge.”

“You keeping up with all your appointments and everything?”

“Yes, I swear,” Keith took a deep breath, controlling his tone before he said something stupid.  “Look, Shiro, I get it, you’re concerned about me.  I promise I’m doing alright.  Chicago’s fine.  I’m fine.  Can’t I just have one morning of jogging with my brother without him trying to dig into my psyche?”

Shiro laughed, “Fine, I get it.  I’ll quit probing.”  Keith took a breath.  “It’s a force of habit and someone’s gotta do it.” 

Keith got where he was coming from.  Their mom had died in Keith’s second year of college so Shiro took up the responsibility of checking on his well-being.  They jogged in peace for half a minute before Keith spoke up again, “Fly anywhere cool recently?”

“You wouldn’t believe it,” Shiro’s face lit up, “So about a month ago I was out in Alaska.  Let me tell you, it was beautiful.  You have to go sometime, Keith.  There’s so much snow up there you would never believe it.” 

\---

Keith quietly opened the door to the hotel room with his fresh coffee in hand.  To say the least, he was greeted by a madhouse. 

“Hunk!  What bag is my morning moisturizer in?”  Lance spoke across the bed as he dug through 3 matching bags.

Hunk looked up pensively for a moment before snapping his fingers and turning towards his roommate, “We put it with the juice so we’d remember to refrigerate it when we arrived.”

Lance almost tripped over the bed trying to get across the room to open the fridge.  His moisturizer was there, just as Hunk had promised.  “You’re a genius and a lifesaver and for that and everything else about you, I love you.” 

Hunk blew a kiss at him to return the gesture.

“Gross,” Pidge said from the bed, fully dressed with their hair still wrapped in a towel.  Lance turned to give them a look before realizing they weren’t even paying attention. 

Keith did his best to walk across the room back to the far bed where his and Pidge’s bags were kept, looking for his clothes for the day.  He started a pile on the bed before addressing the room, “Does anyone else need the bathroom?  I still need to shower.”

Lance jumped up, scurrying around the room, grabbing two more bottles he had set on the bed, “Can you give me five more minutes?”

“Sure,” Keith shrugged as he sat on the bed next to Pidge.

Pidge paused from their edit, narrowing their eyes at Keith before shouting, “Hurry up Lance, he stinks.”

Keith nudged their bicep as Lance stepped out of the bathroom.  His face half covered in his morning scrub he looked them dead in the eyes and simply said, “suffer.”

They looked back at Keith, “remind me again why I took pity on you and asked Hunk to let you sleep here.”

“I don’t know, cause your brother’s a dick or something?”  Keith shrugged, “your words, not mine gremlin.”

Pidge nudged him back for that comment.

“Okay, real talk though, how long has he been working on that campaign?  That was way to comprehensive for a one night ordeal.  Sure fighting everything was fun, but I wanted to meet more of the villagers.  The half-orc that owned the pie shop sounded cute.”  Hunk asked.

Lance, talking from the bathroom doorway, dabbing a damp washcloth onto his face.  “Honestly, he outdid himself this year.  Sucks we can never do an actual campaign with him though.” 

“Who says we need him?  I’ve been writing a campaign for a few months now.  I’ll totally GM if you guys want me to.”  Pidge offered.  “I have some notes for it on my hard drive if you want to try out the beginning something this weekend.”

“Holy shit,” Hunk offered.

“Nerd,” Keith spoke under his breath, earning himself another nudge.

“Let’s do it!”  Lance emerged from the bathroom, a bag of products in his arms, “Bathroom’s all yours, buddy.”

Keith gathered his clothes and soaps off the edge of the bed and made his way towards the bathroom.

“We can just use our characters from last night if you really want to play while we’re still here.”  Pidge offered, “I’ll check the schedule and see what’s going on the next few nights, or we can just play it by ear.”

Keith shut the door to the bathroom unaware of what exactly he’s getting himself into, or well what Pidge is getting him into on the other side of the wall.  All he can really tell is Lance and Hunk are excitedly half-shouting on the other side about one thing or another. 

\---

Throughout the con, they’re all signed up for different shifts at Altea Audio’s table.  He found that he really loved getting to know his roommates during shifts.  He didn’t quite understand how they were both so extroverted.  Keith had hardly been out at the booth for 2 hours and was ready to sit in his hotel room with the lights out for a little bit.  He was putting up a front for the sake of their network, but was ready for five minutes when listeners didn’t surround the table and ask questions.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t grateful for the opportunity, he was just having a hard time getting used to all of it.  Lance was sitting next to him, chatting up every person that came up to their booth like it was the highlight of his day and what he was meant to do. 

As Lance finished up his conversation, he turned to Keith.  Reading his expression his eyebrows furrowed, “You doing alright?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”  Keith took a breath, “How do you do this all the time?”

Lance turned to face him this time, “That’s the thing.  I’m a physics student, I don’t do this all the time.  This is just a twice a year thing.”  He laughed to himself leaning in closer to Keith speaking quieter this time, “Every time Hunk and I get home from one of these types of things, when we’re not in class we’re in our rooms getting back into the swing of things.  We hardly talk and honestly it’s weird for us, which you can probably tell just from knowing us for a whole day.”  Keith nodded as Lance continued, “It’s weird to get used to.  Honestly, I had to trade out a couple of shifts my first time because of anxiety.  Everyone here gets it, so if you’re really feeling it, just know that no one is going to judge you.  We’ve all been in your shoes.”

Keith didn’t know how much he really needed to hear that until it was said.   

\---

The room had decided to wait until their last night of the con to play their new campaign.  Keith had long ditched his binder and was hunched over on the edge of the bed in his too-big-hand-me-down-sweatshirt staring intently at the map that Pidge had drawn out over the past two days.  They were using the lid of a pizza box as a rolling surface, since none of them wanted to sit outside the comfort of their own bed.

“So as you’re about to sneak back into your military housing, the alarms start blaring, and you see a ship crash onto the surface about 150 meters out.  What do you do?”  Pidge prompted the boys.

Lance thought for a second, “Is anyone else coming?”

“Roll a perception check.”

Lance grabs the d20 and rolls it onto the pizza box, “Plus 2, so 14.”

“No one is coming, but you can assume that the alarms mean they’re going to start sending people from the Garrison.”  Pidge clarified.

Hunk stammered, “I don’t know guys, maybe we should just head back in and do more investigating in the morning.”

“I’m already running to the edge of the building.  Is there a way down?”  Keith asks, preemptively grabbing his die.  The die on the box reads ‘16’.

“Well,” Pidge started, “there’s a ladder leading from the second level to the ground, but you have to jump from the fourth to the third to the second.  I’ll let you do that with one acrobatics roll.”  They looked up at the two other boys, “That goes for anyone.”

Lance and Keith roll their die almost immediately, getting a 15 and a 12 respectively.  “Uh, 18 for me,” Lance looked up from his sheet after reading his modifier.

“Guys, are you sure we should be doing this, I feel like the professionals would have more of an advantage on this one.”  Hunk tried to persuade them.

“13,” Keith read.  He turned to Hunk, “No Hunk.  Iverson is a dick and like hell am I going to let him check this out before we do.”

“Fine,” Hunk grabbed his dice.  “So you know, this is just to make sure you both stay out of danger.  14.”

Pidge looked between them, “Okay you all barely make it to the second level without more than a scratch.  Lance, you make it down the coolest and you’re on your feet.  Hunk, you have to steady yourself for a second but you’re there and landed on your feet.  Keith, you fucking fell.  While you didn’t loose any hit points, the only thing bruised is your ass and maybe your ego.”

“Ouch,” Lance looked over at Keith.

Keith grumbled, “Fine, I get up and go down the ladder.”

“Since you all are military trainees, I’m just going to assume you know how to use a fucking ladder so you don’t have to roll for it, however I need you all to do a athletics check to see who gets to the ship fastest.”  Pidge offered.

“9.”

“18.”

“16.”

“Okay, so Keith, you get there first and Lance is right on your tail.  Literally.  Hunk you’re about a minute behind them.  Roll a perception check.”

Lance rolled first, “22.”

“Okay, so you see down the hall there is a really big door that looks locked tight.  There is no one else in this hallway what do you do?”

“Is there a lock?”  Keith asked, looking through his inventory, finding his lockpick set.

“Lance didn’t see one.”

“I kick down the door,” Keith exclaimed, grabbing his die in anticipation.

“Oh no you don’t, I saw it first, so I should get the opportunity to kick it first.”  Lance glared as he snatched up his d20, rolling it very intently keeping eye contact with Keith.  They keep contact, their glares deepening to one another as they hear the sound of a die hitting the box.  Looking down, they read the nat 20.

“So, while you two were busy being homosexual, Hunk studied the blade and kicked down the door with ease,” Pidge narrated.

“Excuse you,” Lance glared.

Pidge rolled their eyes, “Fine, bisexual.  Whatever, you happy?”  Lance nodded.  “So anyway, there are three people surrounding a man on what looks to be an operating table.  You recognize his face as the Pilot from the mission a year ago where the entire crew just disappeared.  He’s alone and starts to sit up.”

“I run over to him and help,” Keith offers.

“Alright,” Pidge clears their throat, “ _Who are you? What are you doing here_?” 

“ _So, I’m Lance, and these weird boys are Hunk and Keith._   I go over to his other side.  _We’re gonna help you out of here.  We’re from the Galaxy Garrison and you crash landed about 200 yards in front of it_.”

“Lance,” he looked towards Pidge, “roll persuasion.” 

“15.”

“Okay, he stands and walks with you, leaning heavily between you both.”  Pidge looks across the bed, “ _Where are we going?_ ”

“ _Hopefully somewhere to keep you safe_ ,” Hunk offered.

Pidge nodded, “Alright, lets roll, um perception, yeah this is perception.”

The trio all looked amongst each other, slightly terrified before grabbing die.

“What the fuck,” Keith looked down at his crit fail.  Lance and Hunk didn’t do much better, scoring a 5 and 7 with modifiers.

Pidge’s face lit with a mischievous smirk, “As you’re about to leave the room, you hear shouts as laser guns fire into the room.  One grazes Keith’s shoulder for,” Pidge pauses to roll a d4, “2 points of damage.”

“Fuck.”

“Three armed guards walk into the room, wearing the same insignia as the Garrison.”  Pidge continues.

Lance waves his arms, “ _Hold up, hold up.  Don’t shoot.  We’re with you guys.  I mean we work with you_.”

“ _That would be a negative_ ,” Pidge spoke, holding their hands onto their face as if speaking through a mask, “ _all students are currently on lockdown.  All unauthorized personnel are to be taken in for questioning._ ”

Hunk quivered for a moment, “Uh, guys this is bad what do we do.”

Pidge’s eyes lit up.  “There’s only one thing left to do at this point.”  They looked between the three boys in front of them, “let’s roll initiative.”

\---

“Alright, so you’re piloting your stolen land vehicle and you lost the Garrison officials that were on your tail.  What do you do?”  Pidge offered.

“What’s around?”  Lance asked, grabbing his d20.  “12.”

Pidge looked up, grasping their computer, “So when you look to your left, you see some desert dirt.  To your right, more dirt.  Straight ahead?  You guessed it.  Dirt!”

Keith rolled his eyes.  He lazily reached for his die while still leaning on Hunk.  “Add 1 to that.”

“Okay, with a 15 you see there’s a shelter up ahead.”

“Let’s go there,” Keith deadpanned.

Pidge looks between Lance and Hunk as they nodded in agreement, Lance’s nod a little more motivated than Hunk’s.  “Alright, you make it to the shack.  Roll Perception.”

Hunk grabbed his die, “Really Pidge?  How much more do you have?”  He rolled.  “18.”

“I just want to set up this bit of narrative then you all can decide if you want to continue this later.”  Hunk and Keith looked so relieved, “Well the front door isn’t locked so you peek in and on the wall is a Conspiracy Theory board.  There are pictures of the neighboring cliffs tacked up along with markings.”

“Pidge what the fuck.  It is too late to start with this shit.”  Keith grumbled.

Pidge held up the bird while they continued.  “The guy you picked up looks at it very closely.  _I think I’ve seen this before._ ”

“Of course you have,” Keith threw his arms in the air.

Lance glares at him, “ _What my friend here is trying to say is where have you seen this?_ ”

“ _The aliens that captured me.  When I was spying around before I escaped I saw these symbols and they were talking about a thing called ‘Voltron’._ ”  Pidge spoke.  “ _It’s some sort of super weapon.  I think they’re trying to find it to control the whole universe._ ”

“SHIT! Now this I can get into,” Lance exclaimed.  “Wait, does this mean we get to go to space?”

“What the fuck please don’t make us go to space now,” Keith grumbled.

“I think I’m with Keith on this one.  You night owls talk about aliens all you want but I gotta get some sleep sometime tonight.”  Hunk offered.  “Besides, don’t you have to take a cab at 7 or some ungodly hour like that?”

“Fine.  Well do you all want to know what would have happened?”  Pidge asked.

Hunk started to nod his head as Lance nearly shouted, “No!  Hell no, Pidge.  Let’s play it!”

“Lance, it’s almost 11 o’clock already.  Can we just go to bed already,” Keith cried out.

Lance sat up on his knees, “Not tonight dummy, just in general.  I really want to know what happens but I don’t want Pidge to just read their shit notes.  I want to play it out!”

Hunk looked over, “But we probably won’t see each other until PodFest East and that’s still 6 months away.”

“Who says we have to wait?”  Pidge looked up from their computer, “Hear me out, what if we just all skype in and play?  You two live together and Keith and I live together so we’ll know if someone is fudging rolls.”

“So I hear you, and would like to offer, what if we record it too?  We all have the equipment.  We just have to get our schedules to match up for a couple hours.”  Lance suggested.

Keith perked up, not quite leaning off of Hunk, “That actually sounds like fun.”

“But can we make new characters?  I feel like our team right now is too caster heavy and we’ll just screw ourselves in the long run.”  Hunk offered.

“Yes please,” Keith exaggerated, remembering how Shiro suggested a fighting class for him earlier.

Pidge shut their laptop, “so it’s settled.  We’ll all make new characters and I’ll start a doodle poll and see when everyone is available in the next few weeks.”

“Oh!  Make sure to specify time zones too,” Lance chimed in.

“Right!  Good thinking, but I’m telling you now it’s going to be Central since I’m setting it up.”  Pidge said as Lance nodded. 

“Great, so now that that’s settled can I please go to sleep?  It’s like 1am or something.”  Keith grumbled, starting to put his dice back into its bag. 

“No it’s not, Keith it’s only-“ Lance cut himself off before remembering his roommates’ time zone difference, “Alright, let’s clear off the bed.  Does anyone want the last pizza slice before I throw it out?”  Hunk looked offended for a moment before he clarified, “by throw it out I mean throw it into my mouth.”

Pidge rolled their eyes, “it’s all yours kid, just get off my bed already.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gay culture is calling everything inconvenient "homophobic"

Pidge was sitting in the campus library packing up their equipment as their phone buzzed.  Reluctantly they swiped open the highlighted conversation.

 **Lance:** Sorry about the wait, I finally got to respond to the poll.  I just got the updated semester schedule for the radio station so this should be good until May.

 **Pidge:** This is homophobic.

 **Pidge:** I just put up my computer.

Pidge rolled their eyes as they dug out their computer.  It only took a few seconds for it to boot up again. Quickly they typed in their password and opened up their email with the poll result notification.  Looking over the chart, they opened their phone and opened a new message.

 **Pidge:** I know your schedule is the most up in the air but for next week we have either Monday at 8pm, Thursday at 9, or Saturday from Noon on.

 **Pidge:** Also I’m heading home so I’ll see you in half an hour?

They put their phone in their pocket before putting up their laptop for the second time, throwing on their coat, and heading to the bus stop.

\---

It was nearly 11 by the time Keith was able to look at his phone.  He was exhausted beyond belief and ready to be home.  He made his way to the stage door of the studio looking at his phone before he was stopped.

“Hey, are you heading to the bus again?”  Thace stopped him.  Keith nodded.  “Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”

“No, really it’s fine,“ Keith started.

“You’re on my side of town, don’t worry about it.  Besides, you’re not waiting for the bus in this wind chill.” 

“Thanks, Thace.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I know you’d do it for me.”  Thace unlocked his car, starting it as soon as he could get his hand to the ignition.  “Besides, you never got a chance to talk about that con you went to.  How was LA?”

Keith buckled up as he spoke, “Honestly the weirdest part about it was not having to wear a coat.  I went jogging in January in a long sleeve shirt.  No jacket.”

“That sounds fake,” Thace offered.

“Oh, but the news show you got me into last year was there.  It was really cool to meet them.  Craig is a lot taller than they make him out to be on the show.”

“Bullshit,” Thace countered, “How tall is tall?”

Keith laughed, “At least six and a half feet tall.  He had head over my brother and he’s 6 even.”

Thace shook his head, “Honestly unbelievable.  What all did you end up doing?  You mentioned your brother, I take it Shiro was out there too?”

Keith shrugged, “I mean yeah, it was good to see him again.  Met some of his and Pidge’s friends out there.  They were pretty cool and seemed to put up with me well enough.”

“God, I can’t believe you.  You can’t just say that you made some friends while you weren’t here like nothing happened.” Thace reached over and nudged Keith’s shoulder, “you’re allowed to do that, you know.  Make friends, have a good time.  You’re what, 22 now?  That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

“Gross you’re sounding like an old man again.  Reminder that you’re only 3 years older than me,” Keith scowled.

“Fine, I get it,” Thace held up his right hand in defeat, “I’ll stop grilling you.  You probably got enough of that this weekend.  At least plug in my phone, I downloaded the new episode of _Nancy_.”

Keith did as he requested, flipping on the podcast as requested.  He started listening to the intro story as he dug out his phone, finally seeing the multiple messages from Pidge.

 **Pidge:** I know your schedule is the most up in the air but for next week we have either Monday at 8pm, Thursday at 9, or Saturday from Noon on.

 **Pidge:** Also I’m heading home so I’ll see you in half an hour?

 **Pidge:** So I just made it home and you’re clearly not here.

 **Pidge:** Will u be home before I go to bed?  More news at 11

 **Pidge:** That’s a fuckin lie of course I’ll be up.  Everyone knows I don’t sleep til 3.

 **Pidge:** But really tho when will u be home?

 **Keith:** Oh my god

 **Pidge:** MY SON

 **Keith:** Fak u im older

 **Keith:** Also im heading home now

 **Pidge:** Okay good now scroll up and answer my first question.

Keith opened up the word pad on his phone where he kept his weekly schedule before reporting back to Pidge.

 **Keith:** I have friday off and im only in until 3 on thurs

 **Keith:** so my vote is thurs

 **Pidge:** Holy shit which deity do I have to thank?

 **Keith:** my boss I guess

Before he got another message from Pidge, he got another chat notification.

 **Pidge Holt** started group message with **Keith Kogane** , **Lance McClain** , and **Hunk Garrett**

 **Pidge:** So miracle happened, Thursday is the day.

 **Pidge:** Fair warning, most of it is going to be a repeat but if there are any decisions you want to redo you can do that and if you roll better or worse than what you did last week…

 **Pidge:** Well I guess more can change than you think  >:D

 **Pidge Holt** changed the Group Name to “ **Local Boys Learn About Voltron** ”

 **Lance:** HOLY SHIT

 **Lance:** So do we need to email the board to submit the show now?

 **Hunk:** At least wait until we play and edit.  Eager much?

 **Pidge:** Hunk’s right.  I bet Matt’s gonna be so offended when we tell him and didn’t invite him.

 **Pidge:** DND’s always been OUR thing and I’m expecting as soon as whatever this is gonna be leaks he won’t talk to me for a month.

 **Keith:** You do realize I have your brother on speed dial

 **Pidge:** SHUT UR WHORE MOUTH KEITH OR I WILL END YOU

 **Lance:** Okaaaaaayyyyyy sooooooooooo

 **Lance:** Why don’t we just put our character’s backstories in here as we make them?  So everyone’s on the same page or whatever?

“Hey Keith?” Thace grabbed his attention.

“Oh, sorry.  What’s up?”  Keith asked, looking back up at him.

Thace gestured out the car, “We’re about to pull into your place.”

“Oh,” Keith hadn’t realized that they had already made it.  “Thanks again for the ride.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah you will.  Get some rest.  We just have one more day on this shoot then we’re hibernating in the editing room.”  Thace shot at him excitedly and half-jokingly. 

“I’m honestly really looking forward to seeing this footage, and Enzo always does a great job with the edits.  It’ll be nice to get to work with her for once.”

“You’re telling me.  I haven’t been on an editing project since last June, this is going to be great.”  Thace pulled into a parking spot in front of Keith’s building.  “Alright kid, have a good night.”

“You too, and stop calling me a fucking kid already.”  Keith slammed the door shut, mostly because Thace’s car was old and only a little because he knew how to make a proper exit from a car.  He could hear Thace bust up laughing as he pulled out of the spot and Keith headed for his building.

\---

It was their third session of their campaign.  They had managed to get through the events from the hotel room in close to the same way they had before.  They had two monitors in front of them on the table.  One hosted all their sound editing channels and the other hosting their skype feed with Hunk and Lance who also had their own dual monitor system set up in the same way.

Pidge set up the next section of the campaign.  “So your monk friend,”

“Siracha,” Lance stated.

Pidge rolled their eyes, “your monk friend, Siracha, is taking you around the desert.  Hunk, your electronic counter that you made back in the shack is starting to beep louder as you explore near this set of caves.”

Hunk lit up.  “Oh!  How many caves are there?  Can I narrow it down to one of the caves?”

“Roll investigation.”

“16.”

“Okay, the ticker is pointing to the cave on the far right.”  Pidge clarified.

“ _So, my Geiger Counter is leading me to the cave on the far right_.”

Keith shrugged, “ _Sounds good to me_.”

“ _No arguments here_ ,” Lance paused and turned to Hunk.  “Wait, that’s named after our Physics professor?”  Hunk shrugged in response.

“Okay.  You’re all heading to this cave.  As you are entering the cave I need you to roll perception.”

“5.”

“12.”

“11.”

“Okay, so Keith, even though you can’t see worth shit, you all can tell that there are symbols on the walls that are now glowing a dim blue.”

Lance looks puzzled through the skype feed, “Do we know anything about the symbols?  Are they a language I recognize?” 

“Investigation.”

“15.”

“You recognize the symbols from the investigation board in the shack you all spent the night in.”

“Can I touch the wall?”  Hunk asked.

“Okay, roll a d20,” Pidge insisted

Hunk took a breath as the die hit the table, “Uh, 9.”

“Nothing happens.”

“Fuck it, I’ll touch the wall too.”  Keith grabs his die and rolls, “11.”

“Once again, nothing happens.”  Pidge grabs a die and rolls it, “Rajah tried and nothing happened when he touched the wall as well.”

Lance picked up his die, “First of all, his name is Siracha.  Secondly, I got 18.”

“Okay so the floor below you starts glowing and you fall through the floor.  Since this place is pretty magical and no one crit failed when touching the wall, you fall without damage.  In front of you is a ship.  It’s nothing of this world and it’s behind a barrier in the same glowing blue as the symbols on the wall up above where you just were.”

Lance looked quizzically, “Alright, so how cool does this ship look?”  He started picking up his d20, shaking it in his hand.

Keith looked down at Cinnamon, napping peacefully in his lap, “How cat-like does it look?”

“First of all you fucking furry, Lance asked first.  Lance gets the roll.”

Lance set his die down, “Oh hell no, I’d rather Keith take this one.”

Keith laughed, picking up his die and rolling.  “Holy shit.”

“No fucking way,” Pidge grumbled.

“What?  You can’t just leave us hanging like this!”  Hunk exclaimed.

Keith threw his hands in the air, nearly disturbing the cat in his lap, “Fuckin’ nat 20.”

Lance and Hunk were excitedly cheering from the other end, waiting for Pidge to regain their composure.  “The space ship is a giant fucking lion.  Are you happy?”

“Extremely,” Keith insisted.

\---

Chat: **Local Boys Learn About Voltron**

 **Hunk** : Just wanted to let you both (since Lance is here and already knows) know but I got into the hotel block for PodFest East.  Should we mark you down for our room again?

 **Pidge:** I’m a fuck yeah.  Keith won’t know for at least another month.

 **Lance:** What the fuck, Keith come on

 **Lance:** Let’s tear up DC

 **Pidge:** He’s at work

 **Lance:** This is biphobic.  How dare he.

 **Pidge:** For you maybe.  But someone has to pay for groceries around here.

 **Pidge:** If he doesn’t respond before he gets home, I’ll bug him about it.

Lance set his phone down.  “How do we even know if he’s gonna go, Hunk?”  He whined as he flopped his head over the edge of Hunk’s bed.

“We don’t, Lance.  That’s why we’re asking.”  He said without shifting his gaze from the textbook in front of him. 

“Why do you always have to be right?”  Lance grumbled.

“Because I am.”  Hunk smiled to himself, “at least we know we’ll have Pidge for sure this year.”

Lance threw his hands up, smacking the back of Hunk’s chair, “That’s the thing!  We always see Pidge!  We’ve only gotten to hang out with Keith once.  Once, Hunk!  And that is biphobic and unfair.  He is kind and a lot of fun once he warms up to you.”

Hunk swiveled around in his chair, “Okay, how much of that is just the blood going straight to your head?”  He nudged his toes to the top of Lance’s scalp, “sit up already, your face is all red and I can’t tell if it’s ‘embarrassed’ red or ‘I cant breathe straight’ red.”

While sitting up, Lance grumbled, “everyone knows I never breathe straight.”

“Oh my god I can’t deal with you right now!”  Hunk exclaimed, spinning his chair back around to focus on his homework.

“I love you,” Lance spoke quietly.

“I love you too,” Hunk scowled, frown on his face that wouldn’t be there for long.  Especially not after Lance’s phone buzzes on the bed and he almost falls off trying to check it.

 **Keith:** Sadly Pidge is right

 **Keith:** I won’t know for another month

 **Lance:** BIPHOBIA AT IT’S FINEST

 **Lance:** Tell your job I hate them

 **Keith:** It’s fucking PBS?

 **Keith:** What, do you want to send your hate to Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross too?

 **Hunk:** What have they ever done to you, Lance?

 **Keith:** Don’t talk to me or my neighbor ever again

 **Lance:** B I P H O B I A

 **Lance:** Keith, but u have to go.  You’re family now.  You can’t tear this family apart!!!!!!!!

 **Lance:** What has this Ohana ever done to you???????????

 **Keith:** Oh fuck I gotta go

 **Lance:** YEAH THAT’S THE SPIRIT

 **Keith:** I’ll let you all know when I do

 **Lance:** oh that kind of go okay

 **Pidge:** WAIT WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE HOME

 **Lance:** …

 **Lance:** I think he’s gone again.

 **Hunk:** My favorite cryptid. :’’’’)

\---

Keith woke up on his first day off in two weeks at noon.  Rolling over, he checked his phone notifications, and at the top sat an email.

 **From:** Ulaz@PBSCHI.org

 **Subject:** Your time-off Request has been APPROVED

He clicked his phone back off before rolling back over to get a little more sleep.  Cinnamon readjusted her position accordingly.

\---

The next time he woke up, it was to a rough and moist feeling to his face.  “Okay, okay, I’m up.”  He swatted away Cinnamon’s tongue lightly.  “What?  Do you need food?”  He managed in a weak sleepy tone.  He grabbed his phone before leading his favorite girl into the kitchen. 

“Holy shit, you’re alive,” Pidge mocked from the couch.

“Sadly,” Keith grumbled, getting the bag of cat food from off the refrigerator. 

“Did you get to do anything today?  Besides sleep like the dead?”

Keith glanced over at the oven clock, “Shit is it really 5?” 

“Yeah, I was about to go in and wake you up so you could be ready to record by 7.  You doing alright?”  Pidge made their way into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

Keith bent down to pour out Cinnamon’s food, “of course I am.  I’m here talking to you, aren’t I?”

“Remind me not to care about your well being again then, okay?  I’m serious.  I went in there hours ago and you didn’t budge and you’re always the first person awake when the dog down the hall starts barking and he’s been at it all afternoon.”  Pidge furrowed their eyebrows.

“Pidge, I’m fine.  I’m just tired.”

“Well that’s the understatement of the century.  You sure you’ll be alright tonight?  We can reschedule, I’m sure the guys would understand.” 

“I’ll just make some coffee.  I’ll be back to normal in half an hour.”  Keith pleaded.

Pidge’s eyebrows were practically touching at this point, “Alright, I still don’t believe you but I’ll take your word for it.”

Keith dug out his phone, finally opening the full email.  His approval went for the entire week, finishing with the PodFest East.  His smile brightened as soon as it really sunk in.  First, he opened the group chat.

Chat: **Local Boys Learn About Voltron**

 **Keith:** So I told you that y’all would be the first to know

 **Lance:** PLEASE LET THIS BE GOOD

 **Keith:** I’m off work

 **Keith:** So see you guys in DC?

“Keith what the fuck??  You were just talking to me and you didn’t just say something?”  Pidge jumped out of their chair 10 feet in front of him and bounded in front of him in moments.

He shrugged, “I told them they would be the first to know.”

They flipped him off as they moved in to hug him around the waist. 

“I’m actually off that whole week in case we wanted to go see Matt and Shiro.  It’s before you go back to school, right?”  Keith checked.

Pidge backed away, staring blankly and looking like they were about to cry, “What the fuck how are you the best?  God, thankfully I booked Southwest so we can change that flight easy.  Why didn’t you tell me you requested the whole week?”

Keith just shrugged, hopping back onto his phone.

 **Lance:** HOLY SHIT IT’S HAPPENING

 **Lance:** Hunk needs to come home so he can be excited with me

 **Lance:** I miss him ;w;

Keith rolled his eyes as he opened a new chat.

TO: **Takeshi Shirogane**

 **Keith:** Are you doing anything the week before podfest?

 **Keith:** I got the time off if you wanted to do anything

\---

Keith wouldn’t admit it, but he really missed getting to hang out with his brother.

Except when he started grilling him on his social life. 

The four of them, Matt and Pidge included, were taking Matt and Shiro’s extra day off to walk around the National Mall.  Matt and Pidge were running around, on a quest to get pictures of his dog Gunther with everything they deemed necessary.  That included every broken brick in the sidewalk, to every lamppost, and obviously every monument and memorial to send back to their parents. 

Shiro and Keith stayed back a little bit, trying not to tire themselves out by lunchtime.  “I’ve been keeping up with that new show of yours.  It sounds like you’re having fun.”

“Yeah, I guess.”  Keith shrugged.  He caught Shiro’s gaze and he took a breath.  “Yeah, it’s fun.  It’s been great getting to know Lance and Hunk.  Pidge has done some amazing work on this campaign.  Honestly the suckiest part is just my work schedule being super unpredictable.”

“Suckiest?”  Shiro nudged.

“Fuck off.”

“Fine, fine I’ll let that one go.  You still liking the station though?”

“I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t, Shiro.”

Shiro looked around, pointing towards a park bench, “come on.”  He took a breath, turning towards his brother as they both sat.  “I know you really started there after you left school and after everything that happened with mom.”

Keith tucked his feet onto the bench, “I’m not talking about this now.”

“When will you?  It’s been two years.  You kept saying you were going to go back to school once you figured out what you wanted to do, have you figured out more on that?”  Shiro pried.

“I don’t know.  It’s not that hard to explain, I guess I just don’t know what I want to do.”

“Well what do you like to do?  You just said you liked working at the TV Station.  Have you thought about going to film school?  They have those in Chicago.” 

“Yeah, and those students are our interns.  I help train them,” Keith breathed out, “What else am I supposed to do?”

“You don’t have to go back to school if you don’t want to.  I can talk to Coran, I know he knows some people in media who are probably hiring if you want to try something new.  I can see if he knows people in Chicago,” Shiro offered.

“Why do you think I need a new job?”

“You’re constantly tired.  Honestly I’m glad I still had to work the last two days you have been here because you needed that sleep.  You go weeks without a day off.  I’m constantly surprised that you are able to work on two podcasts at the same time.”  Shiro took a breath, “you’re overworked, kid.  That’s not something to be proud of.”

“God you’re sounding like a dad again, stop.”  Keith looked away.  He didn’t want to go into the conversation and admit Shiro was right, but at the end of the day he knew his brother only ever had his best interests in mind.  “Why should I talk to Coran anyway?  I’d just be doing the same stuff that I do for PBS.”

Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “maybe you will be.  But from what I hear, he’s friends with good people.  Maybe he’ll have someone that works a different schedule and can guarantee six day weeks.  Some place that will give you a break now and then.  You won’t know until you try.”  Keith growled, “I know, I know.  But just listen for a second okay.  Mom’s not around anymore so there’s no one else to parent at you for a second so just give me this.”  Keith turned towards Shiro.  Shiro gave him a soft smile before continuing, “your happiness is the first thing that’s important.  Do what you love but don’t exhaust yourself doing so.  There’s more out there besides public broadcasting.  Even if that’s what you love doing, just don’t stretch yourself too thin.”

As Keith let everything sink in, he turned away and faced the pool in front of them.  Softly he finally responded, “thanks, Shiro.” 

The only response Shiro gave was a short rub on his shoulder blade.  “We should probably find the Holts.  We probably left them alone too long already.”

“You’re right, any longer and they’ll end up paying damages to the Lincoln Memorial,” Keith joked, standing up to resume his walk around the mall with his brother.

\---

Keith was lying in bed unable to sleep.  He would be lying if everything Shiro had told him the day before wasn’t still weighing over him. 

His PodFest East roommates and he had made it back to the hotel room about an hour ago following the tradition of Day Zero DND and the three of them passed out almost immediately.  Keith, on the other hand, wasn’t as lucky.

Growing restless, he threw on his sweatshirt and shoes, being sure to stuff his key into his pocket before slipping out the door.  He made his way to the hall by the elevator, stopping to peer over the edge.  The hall opened up to a square with a cement railing, topped with indoor plants where patrons could see all 16 floors of the hotel.  On the bottom level the hotel coffee shop, which was closed at this hour, had tables out.  Some were being used by patrons trying to get some late-night work and editing done.

Keith didn’t really feel like going all the way down there.

He knew he needed to get some rest.  Shiro had set up a meeting for him with Coran for the following morning to help figure out what he wanted to do.  He had been talked up enough – having worked as an academic advisor at two different universities before taking time off to start hosting an audio network for podcast content creators all over the country. 

Keith had no idea what he would say to him and if he didn’t know now, how would he know in the morning.

He was so lost in thought that he almost missed a soft, “funny seeing you here.”  Keith had turned to see Lance leaning against the ledge right next to him.

“What are you doing up?  Go back to bed.”

“Hey I was just rolling over to get a drink when I heard the door close.  Thus, I was legally obligated to investigate,” Lance justified.  “I know that look, you’re worried about something.  What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, really Lance.  I’ll be back in soon.”  Keith made no intention of moving, but he tried to reassure Lance that he would be alright.

Lance took a deep breath, “Well I’m not heading back into the room without you.  If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.  But I’ll be right here if you want to.”

Keith nodded.  True to his word, Lance let him think for a bit.  So much so that Lance almost jumped when Keith finally did talk to him.  “How did you know you wanted to study Physics?”

Lance took a breath, “Well I grew up watching the stars with two of my older siblings back home.  We’d sneak out to Varadero Beach to watch shuttle launches and meteor showers over the water.  Our parents always knew though.  Mostly because we’d pack a backpack full of snacks and all our stargazing books off the family shelves.  Mom would always leave the light on for us when came home.  Once I got into high school, I ended up doing really well in physics, and I enjoyed it too, but when I was applying to college I was more concerned about finding an Astronomy program.  It wasn’t until my second semester that I met Hunk in class and we got paired in a research project.  It was the most fun I had trying to figure out a solution.  So I changed my major and added another year to my education.  I spent this summer in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in LA and it really signed off the fact that I made the right choice.”

Keith watched him intently, absolutely entranced by the passion behind his words.  He believed with every fiber of his being that Lance was meant to be there. 

“Why the sudden interest?”  Lance turned to face him.

Keith leaned his arms over the railing, his hands dangling in the open air. “I guess Shiro really got to me this week and now I’m second guessing every decision I made about my life until now.  Like I get it, he cares and he’s just trying.  But at least I’m not a fry cook at Arby’s or something.  Can’t he be fine with just that?”

“First of all, there is nothing wrong with that as a career path if it makes you happy.”  Lance scolded, “and you said it yourself.  Shiro just cares about you.  That’s what family does.  Sure he probably comes off a little strong but he’s just trying to figure out what makes you happy.”

Keith grumbled.  He knew Lance was right.  “It’s just aggravating.  He’s got everything figured out for himself so now he just gets to focus all his energy on me and it’s sickening.  Is there something like caring too much?  Cause that’s what Shiro does.”  He took a breath, calming down a bit, “he got me an meeting with Coran tomorrow to figure out what I want to do.”

“That’s amazing!”

“Sure, but what if I screw it up?  What if I just start talking to him and he tells me I’m doing the wrong thing altogether and I would be better off doing anything else?”

“Alright,” Lance thought for a moment, “so what do you like about what you do now?”

“What?”

“What do you like about what you do now?”  Lance repeated.

“Uh,” Keith bit his lip before speaking up again, “I like the people I work with.  I like not doing the same thing all the time.  I like getting to be on set and occasionally tell interns what to do.  I like travelling with work and getting to see places and meet people I wouldn’t otherwise.  I like learning from professionals that come into shoots for a couple of days and getting to use that knowledge in real-world situations.  I like actually feeling like I’m doing something and not just sitting at a desk all day.  I like learning about all the different subjects we shoot, sitting in on interviews, camping out at libraries until 3am.  I love the feeling when you solve what could have been a crisis situation creatively.  I don’t know.”  Keith glanced over only to see Lance beaming at him.  He leaned back.  “What?”

“Start off by telling Coran that tomorrow.  I’m positive he can give you some guidance with that.”  Lance patted Keith’s shoulder.  “Now will you please come back to the room?  You got a big morning ahead of you.”

“Yeah, okay.”  Keith shrugged, stuffing his hands into his sweatshirt pocket and backing away from the wall.

“You know what,” Keith turned to look at Lance, “I promise it’s going to go great.”

“How are you so sure?”  Keith raised his eyebrow.

Lance rolled his eyes before looking back, “how about this?  If it doesn’t go well, I’ll buy you a consolation dinner.”  Keith contemplated the offer, furrowing his eyebrows.  “And if it does go well,” Lance continued, “you have to buy me dinner for being right.”

Keith laughed, “sure, Lance.”

“I’ll have you know, I have expensive tastes so when it goes well tomorrow you better get your credit card ready.”

\---

Lance did his best to distract himself with PR shifts at the network table.  He put all his attention in every listener that came to the booth.  There were even a couple that mentioned their DND campaign and sent compliments towards Pidge for their story.  He drove each conversation as long as they could, distracting himself from worrying for his friend. 

Keith had woken up more nervous then when he went to bed.  Lance accompanied him to the downstairs coffee bar before they went their separate ways, hoping that would calm him down a little bit. 

The next break of conversation, Lance dug his phone out of his pocket to check the schedule for the day. 

He only had to wait twenty more minutes.

Lance slid his phone back into his pocket as a couple of new listeners walked up to the table, entering into a conversation with them.  He was completely distracted by them, that he didn’t notice Keith sit down next to him until the listeners waved to him.

“You’re here!”  Lance turned towards him.

“Uh, yeah.  It’s noon,” Keith pointed towards his naked wrist.

“Wait it’s noon already?” One of the listeners asked.  Lance shrugged and nodded, still unsure of the passage of time, “We have to head to a live show.  It was great to meet you!”  They waved as they headed off. 

Lance returned their wave, even after they were long gone. 

“So,” Keith started, patting his knees with his palms, “it looks like I owe you dinner.”

“Really?  Keith!  That’s so exciting!  Tell me how it went, spare no detail.”  Lance turned in his chair to face him.

Keith rolled his eyes, “later oh my god.”  He gestured to the table in front of him, “we’re here to work this isn’t social hour.”

“Well then, you better deliver.  I will be not patiently waiting until then, and that’s a Lancey Lance guarantee.”

Lance slowly started to realize he likes the sound of Keith’s laugh.

Really likes.

\---

Keith was pulling up restaurants within walking distance of their hotel, waiting for Lance’s approval on a place while they were sitting in the hotel room.  Lance had taken the opportunity to spread out at the foot of Keith and Pidge’s bed while he sat up at the headboard typing away.

“It looks like we have to walk at least 3 blocks to find something I can actually afford.  There’s Asian-American, a couple of Tap houses, Afro-Portuguese, a Pizzeria.  Sorry if you have your heart set on that but I refuse to eat pizza out here.” 

“What?  Why not?  Pizza is great!” Lance defended.

Keith looked over his laptop, “I’ve lived in Chicago for the past four years.  Come to Chicago sometime and I’ll get you real pizza.”

Lance rested his head again, “alright, but I’m holding you to that.”

Keith moved his glaze back to the google maps, “There’s a Cuban place nearby.”

“Probably not there.”  Lance pursed his lips together, “I’ll either get homesick or disappointed and I don’t think you want to deal with either of those tonight.”

“Fair enough.”  Keith scrolled a little more.  “There’s sushi, Latin, American, Spanish, and McDonalds.”

“Let’s just hit up one of the Tap Houses.  When everyone else gets back from their night shows we can meet them for drinks then.”  Lance rolled over, facing Keith.  “You sure you’re okay with missing the live show?  I thought you and Pidge were ranting last night about _Alice Isn’t Dead_.  I figured you both were going.”

Keith shut his laptop, leaving it on his lap, “I thought about it but really I just want to be away from everything for an evening.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”  Lance sat up in bed and began looking for his shoes, “so shall we go?”

“Yeah.”  Keith set the laptop on the bed as he got up to slide his boots on.  Grabbing his jacket, he met Lance at the door to the hotel room and made their way downstairs. 

“You still haven’t told me how your meeting with Coran went.”  Lance observed.  “Before you say anything, I would like to point out that I have been very patient and haven’t pressed the issue since you mentioned it on shift.”

“Fine, okay.”  Keith breathed out with a laugh as they waited for the elevator.  “Apparently he has some old students who work out in Chicago now so he sent a few emails out there and he had an old friend who he helped do some editing for when he was leaning the software.”  The doors opened and the duo walked into a surprisingly empty elevator for the seven o’clock crowd.  “Coran called him while we were meeting and let me talk to him for a little bit as well.  Turns out he used to work for the station I’m at now and left for a lot of the reasons I am aiming to.” 

Lance led them out of the elevator as they made it to the lobby.  “So do you have a new job?  Also do you have directions for when we walk out?”

Keith dug his phone back and pulled up the map while he clarified, “I’m going to give them my one month’s notice and then let Kolivan know when my last day out there is.  He has a few projects he’s working on that he needs some crew on so I’ll at least have something lined up.”

“That’s awesome, Keith!”

“It feels like it at least.  I don’t know it’s still terrifying leaving a full time job.  What if I’m making the wrong decision?”  Keith flung his arms out so quick he almost dropped his phone. 

“That’s the thing about being 22,” Lance shrugged, “you still have time to figure that out.”

“But what about you?  You’ve had everything figured out since you were ten!” 

Lance burst out in laugher.  “I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong you are, Keith.”  It took him a minute to recover, and Keith just stood there staring at him confused.  “Yeah, I had my life figured out at the same time I thought chocolate milk came from brown cows and monsters would pull you under the bed if you slept with one leg over the edge.”  He took a deep breath before he clarified.  “I only had an idea of what I liked when I was ten.  It took a few dozen meetings and panic attacks in front of my advisor at the end of my freshman year to even get into the Physics program.  Once Hunk and I became friends everything got easier, but even then I have no idea what I want to do knowing that I have to leave school in a year.”

“Oh.”  Keith kept his eye contact on his phone, leading them down the sidewalk towards the Tap House. 

“There will always be jobs and internships that you don’t completely like.  But you find what you like about them and use that to figure out what to do next.  If it means go down a completely different path, then I’d think that’s better than waking up miserable every day to do a job you hate.”

It was something in the way that Lance held himself that really hit Keith that he knew what he was talking about.  “Why does it make sense when you say it?”

“Because when it’s just you, you just believe you’re being too hopeful.”  Lance shrugged.  “Multiple opinions seem more realistic.  It’s something to do with hivemind theories.  Like when multiple people report sightings of UFOs in one night and people report that it happened, except instead of seeing UFO’s you’re seeing potential outcomes of social situations.”

Keith couldn’t get over the fact that Lance used an alien analogy, so as they turned the corner Keith spoke up, “Alright, you mentioned it so I have to ask,” Lance glanced over raising an eyebrow, but let Keith continue, “aliens.  Real or not?”

“Oh they absolutely exist.  I didn’t spend my entire childhood studying the expanse of the universe to not have dozens of theories.  There’s no way in hell we’re alone in the universe.”  Lance used his arms to emphasize his point. 

Keith grinned as they turned into their destination, holding the door open for Lance.  Lance led them to the host podium.  “Welcome to Capitol City, is it just two tonight?”

Keith nodded while Lance responded with a verbal “yes!”

“Alright,” she pulled two menus from the carrier behind her and marked a table down on her chart, “right this way.”  She led them into the dining side of the restaurant to a small high-toper at the edge of the restaurant.  “Your server will be right with you.”

They both sent a series of “thanks” as she turned back to the entrance. 

They weren’t seated for a minute before someone else came up to the table, “Hello, my name is Conrad and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.  Now before we get started is this going to be one check or two?”

Keith started to say “one” but was interrupted.

“Food is on him, drinks are on me.  So two tickets.”  Lance clarified.

Conrad chuckled as Keith’s jaw dropped and eyebrows furrowed, “sounds great.  Can I get any drinks started for you tonight?”

Keith sent over a ‘we’re not finished’ look to Lance before turning back to Conrad, “I’ll have a Pale Rider.”

“Good choice, that’s my personal favorite,” he turned to Lance, “and for you?”

Lance took a final look at the drink menu, “I’ll do an Amber Waves.”

“Alright, one Pale Rider and one Amber Waves.  I’ll get those out and come back for your orders.”  Conrad confirmed as he walked away.

Keith smiled until he turned away, his gaze immediately shooting to Lance.  “What the hell was that, Lance?  We had a deal!  I’m buying dinner!”

“And you are, I don’t see the issue here.” 

“You just told him two tickets.”

“Yeah, because you got a killer interview and a new job.  That’s cause for celebration.  You can’t buy your own celebration drinks.  It’s against the rules.”  Lance instructed.  “No matter how you argue, I’m getting drinks.  If you’re that upset about it you’ll just have to buy drinks some other time.”

Keith took a breath and threw up his hands, “fine, you win.”

\---

They were two drinks into the night and Lance really loved Keith’s company. 

The two of them had finished their dinners and after checking with Conrad had moved over to the bar to open their table to a new party.  They were spending the better part of the evening exchanging stories.  Lance loved hearing how not-quite-perfect Keith’s older brother was and Lance had plenty of stories to tell about sneaking out of the house growing up and having the youngest-of-five privilege and Tired parents. 

“So for my 21st birthday, Shiro found this place through some friends that served alcoholic milkshakes.  So we both really didn’t want to do anything too social, and in DC it’s hard to do that without running into people Shiro knew from work so we found this dive burger bar and went at 9 o’clock – too late for the dinner crowd but too early for the bar hopping crowd.  We ordered our drinks, well milkshakes, and found a table.”

“Wait, this is you right?  Ordering milkshakes?  The same guy who just had to get a “no cheese” burger and take it back because they put it on?  This same Keith?”  Lance felt the need to clarify.

“Sadly yes.  Shiro had gotten it in my mind that the alcohol would cancel out the dairy in it or something.  We didn’t even pregame that night so there’s really no excuse for my lapse in judgement.”  Keith defended.  “So, we get our drinks and we’re just sitting there talking and drinking, and we’re about halfway through when I just start feeling really sick.  I mention it to Shiro and he’s all ‘yeah okay we’ll head home’ but he didn’t want to waste his milkshake so he finishes his.  I leave mine set because I know I can’t handle it.  I don’t want to go into detail on anything else but let’s just say Matt went to a friend’s house for the night and still holds the whole fiasco over our heads.  I think Shiro shouted one point about understanding the pains of childbirth?  Whether he was serious or disillusioned by the alcohol is beyond me though.”

Lance couldn’t help but burst into tear-lined laughter.  “God, I feel so bad for laughing but that’s incredible.”  Lance did his best to compose himself, “Alright, my turn now.  So setting the scene.  It’s junior year of high school, all my older siblings have left the house, I just got a used car my dad helped pay for off craigslist, and at 2 in the morning I wanted some pizza.  So like any high schooler would do, I snuck out.  My car was parked outside so I drove out, got down to the pier and went into my favorite pizza place.  So I picked up two slices to go and headed back to my car.”

“Wait back up,” Keith looked him dead in the eyes, “you sneak out for Pizza at 2 A.M.?  Do you just not have frozen pizza at home?  Or leftovers from anything?”

“Oh I had a freezer full of them but I specifically needed a Rico’s Pepperoni Supreme Splash Blast because I am a man who knows what I want, Keith.”  Keith laughed at that and Lance ate that up.  “Besides, my mom only makes pizza on special occasions.  It used to be my birthday but after I turned 12 I found my other favorite foods, so now it’s all my nieces and nephews birthdays since they’re all too young to know better.  Anyways.  So I’m driving back, getting back on the main road.  I immediately decide ‘No, this pizza is hot and delicious and I have to start eating this now’ and I burn the roof of my mouth and drive my car into a ditch.”

“Oh shit.”

“So my car is saying it’s about 2:30 and I can’t just call home and wake up my parents.  They’re waking up in three hours and mama didn’t raise me to be that kind of a dick.  So I kill my engine, grab a notebook from my backseat, make a note of ‘I’ll be back’ and signed my name and cell number to stick under my front wiper.  I grab my pizza and lock my car and walk the mile and a half home.  I took a few detours, sat in the old elementary school playground to finish one slice, then I saw the beach from there so I walked along the coast finishing the other.  I ended up catching the sunrise that morning before I realized that my parents would be getting up and I needed to get ready for school.”

Keith was having a hard time holding in his laughter, “What?”

“I should also mention this was before I got stable medication so I was always all over the place.  So I make it back home and I’m walking in the door and come face to face with my parents in the dining room eating breakfast.  It was just your average Tuesday morning.”

“Was this a common thing?  You just walking in the front door for breakfast?”

“Oh, yeah.  It happened a handful of times at least.  The first time they were terrified but after then they just said I better have my phone on me or I’d be grounded for sure since they could track that.  As long as I was in town they wouldn’t raise suspicions or call the police.  When I walked in they had dad’s computer on with our cell provider’s webpage up.  Dad was understandably a little peeved when I told him about my car, but when we went to check it out after school it was fine.  She got out of the ditch just fine and all the damage was a broken front headlight.  Best part is dad took me back to Rico’s after we got my car out and he had to tell Rico about what had happened before we got pizza to bring back home.  I would like to finish this by saying I have not gotten into a wreck since and the moral of this story is don’t eat pizza and drive.”

Keith was staring at his empty glass, trying to stifle his laughter.  “Do you want to just head back to the hotel?  I’m honestly missing being in pajamas a little bit.”

“What do you mean a little bit?  Cause I am always missing my one true love, my jammies.”  Lance looked over towards one of the bartenders, sending a wave.  They nodded and held up a finger as they finished up a few drinks for a party in front of them.  “I know we said we were going to tell everyone to come out here but I don’t know how much longer they’re going to be at live shows.  Hunk said there was one he was going to go to after _Alice_ so we’ll still probably beat them back.”  The bartender showed up in front of them and Lance gave them his debit card to close out his tab.  Lance turned to finish the last couple of sips of his drink.

“Also, I think I saw advertisements for Harry Potter weekend when I was staying at Shiro’s this week so there’s that bonus for staying in tonight.”  Keith suggested.

“What the fuck?”  Keith immediately went wide eyed, terrified he had done something wrong.  Lance quickly backpedaled, “Why aren’t we there already?  Why did you talk me into sitting at the bar for an extra half hour?”

Keith fumbled over his words, “you were the one who suggested it and I thought it sounded nice?”

The bartender slid up with Lance’s card and their receipt.  Lance wrote down his tip and signed the receipt before getting up.  “I do agree, it was nice.  But now, we have no time to spare!  We have a boy wizard to see!”  Lance grabbed at Keith’s hands since he was not getting up quick enough, “come on!  If you don’t hurry up he’ll be fighting You Know Who before we get there!”  Lance could tell his excitement was getting the better of him, but after an evening of being nostalgic with a new friend it was the perfect ending.

They left the Taphouse hand-in-hand and laughing.

\---

The first thing Keith did upon returning into their hotel room was take off his boots and fall onto his bed.  He was almost too tired to watch Harry Potter, but he was excited none the less. 

“I still gotta wash my face and everything tonight so do you want to use the bathroom first?”  Lance called out from the corner where his bag was. 

Of course he was being productive.  Keith peeled himself from the bed, “if you’re offering, sure.  I’ll be quick.”  Keith grabbed his sweatpants and night shirt from the pile he put them in that morning before slipping into the bathroom to slip off his binder and otherwise get ready for the night.

It didn’t take long, as he promised.  “It’s all yours,” Keith announced as he walked out. 

Lance had everything lined out on the hood of his bag against the wall and grabbed the first stack before trading places with him. 

Keith made his way across the room, throwing his dirty clothes in his suitcase.  He reached for the TV remote, figuring he could at least find the channel while Lance was getting ready.  It didn’t take long to find since Freeform was channel 6.  They were currently playing commercials for some show Keith wouldn’t watch when Lance stepped back out.  “Does it say what movie they’re on?”

“Only commercials so far.  My guess is still on one or two though.”  Lance nodded.  Keith glanced back at the T.V.  “Is it bad that I don’t think I’ve seen these films since the last premier?”

“Yes and no.”  Lance answered.  “Yes, because they are magical and masterpieces and are great when you’re feeling nostalgic or homesick or are just in the mood to see Matt Lewis go through puberty like a champ one more time.  And no because there are other films out there so you don’t need to watch the same eight 700 times but if I can guess anything by your movie tastes, Harry Potter is a severe outlier and you just watch conspiracy documentaries 700 times each instead.”

Keith leaned back on the headboard, “I take it you’ve seen the series at least 700 times?  That’s too specific to just be a joke.”

“It’s like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know!”  Lance shrugged as he walked back in the bathroom to wash off his scrub. 

Keith laughed to himself, waiting for Lance to come back out.  Soon enough, Lance flicked off the bathroom light and dropped off his belongings back on his bag.  Walking over he looked at Keith, “do you care if I sit by you?  Your bed is unfairly centered in front of the TV and I’m calling shenanigans.”

“Go for it,” Keith scooted over from the edge, only for Lance to crawl over on the other side of him, stealing Pidge’s pillows in the process.  “You do know Pidge always does this.  I’m sure they spend all their time streaming in here when they’re not on the con floor.”

“I was wondering what they were tweeting about all day.  I didn’t think it made sense until you mentioned that.”  Lance turned his head to face Keith.  In front of them the commercials came to an end and the all familiar score to _Chamber of Secrets_ played through the speaker, “shush it’s back!”

Keith leaned into Lance ever so slightly.  Lance closed the distance between their shoulders.

\---

Pidge was yawning the whole walk from their third live show of the night to their hotel room.  “Why did you convince me this was a good idea?  I have a 10 o’clock shift at the table tomorrow!”

Hunk threw his hands up, “hey, I didn’t do anything.  They mentioned a surprise midnight show and you screamed ‘fuck yeah we’re going, screw responsibility’.  At least Matt had the right idea and ordered pizza again.”

“For once in my life I am thankful for him.”  Pidge said flatly while reaching for their room key they stuffed into their badge.

“That’s a lie and you know it.  Oooh! be quiet when you go in.  Lance and Keith have to be asleep by now.”

“Don’t remind me, they’re gross old men.”  Pidge slid the key in, “besides, Keith is bound to be awake in the next 30 seconds.  He sleeps so light, he’ll wake up to anything.”

The pair stepped into the room only to find the light on, the TV on (playing Harry Potter?), and Lance and Keith sitting next to each other on one bed, Keith’s head on Lance’s shoulder in a dead sleep.

“Holy shit, what did we miss?”  Hunk breathed over their shoulder.  “Do we wake them up?”

“Yeah but in a minute,” Pidge dug around their hoodie pocket for their phone, pulling out five taffy wrappers in the process.  They snapped a few photos before walking across the room.  Climbing onto their bed, they began to poke at Lance, “get off my bed, dummy.  Yours is over there.”  Instead of Lance moving, Keith began to stir in his sleep.

Hunk walked over to them, noticing Lance not moving, “you can’t use methods you use on Keith.  That won’t work.  You gotta poke him at his sides and then shake him a little.”

“What?”  Keith’s eyes opened very slowly, “oh, you’re back.  Can I go back to sleep?”

“In a second, help us wake up Lance.”  Hunk spoke over him.

Keith rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before measuring the situation.  Keith nudged Lance’s side at the same time as Pidge, finally causing him to stir.  “What the fuck that was a perfectly good sleep.”

“Sure it was, now give me back my pillows,” Pidge started to push on him.  “You better not have farted on them.”

Lance chuckled as he got up to slide to the other bed.  “I’m not saying I did, but if you wake up with pink eye, it’s not my fault.”

“Fuck you go back to sleep.”  Pidge shook their head, readjusting their own pillows while Keith slid down to get under his blankets.  Pidge shared an exasperated sigh with Hunk before he turned into the bathroom to change for the night.  Before setting it down for the night, Pidge opened up their texts.

To: **Keith**

 **Pidge:** So……..

 **Pidge:** Lance, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my friends and I have a house rule that if anyone asks about the physical attractiveness of a character, they have to roll a d20 for it. Rajah got his nickname because Lance rolled a nat 20 and his nickname has been Siracha ever since.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for Panic Attacks in this chapter. You can scroll to the next "---" indicating the next section if you need to skip it. Personally, I don't think it's written super descriptive so you might be fine, I just want you all to be okay.
> 
> Alternative title: I Let Pidge Say Fuck

Keith woke up the first day back to work, knowing what he needed to do.  He really can’t say he was too excited though. 

He rolled over to his phone, opening up the first new message.

 **Shiro:** Do what you gotta do kid!

 **Shiro:** Matt believes in you and so do I!

Keith rolled his eyes before replying.

 **Keith:** Fine DAD

 **Keith:** It’s still terrifying though

He abandoned his phone to go get coffee before getting ready for work the rest of the way.  Pidge only had afternoon classes today, so he was unsurprised that they were nowhere to be seen.  His one companion was Cinnamon who began yelling, waiting impatiently for her breakfast.  He started his pot before reaching for her food above the refrigerator.  She rubbed up against his leg, knowing exactly what he was going, “what?  You’re acting like you haven’t eaten in a week!”  He knew it was a lie though, Thace had texted him multiple pictures of Cinnamon cuddling him through the week when he came over to take care of her before and after work. 

Thinking about Thace sent Keith’s nerves on edge again.  Thace had been the one to train Keith when he first was hired on at PBS and they had quickly become close after disclosing their shared experience in the foster care system.  Since then, they ended up working on every project together because they had been told multiple times from their supervisors that they make a great team. 

He’s really going to miss working with him.

And just like that, Keith second guessed himself for the thousandth time since he talked to Coran.

\---

Keith went to talk to Ulaz just before their lunch break.  He sat down and gave him his one month notice.

He didn’t exactly process everything he was saying and honestly he didn’t quite get everything Ulaz said in return.  All he caught that he would send an email to verify so his one month notice would be in writing.

If it was possible, Keith walked out of the office more terrified then when he walked in.

“Hey, Keith!”  Keith turned to see Thace shouting down the hall, “glad to see you made it back in one piece!  Is something going on?  Are you doing alright?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.  I mean I quit.  In one month I mean.”

“Ah shit.  Are you doing anything for lunch?  We should go somewhere that isn’t here.”  Thace recommended.

Keith took a breath, “That sounds amazing, quite honestly.”

“Sweet!  Oh we can exchange stories from this week if you want.  You can say something about DC and I can say something cute that your daughter did.”  Thace suggested, leading Keith out the station doors.

They walked down the road to a nearby café that was often frequented by at least 3 groups of employees from PBS at this hour.  Thace did his best to avoid all of them, finding a spot in the back so they could talk.  “If it makes you feel better I’ll start.  So, per your offering, I drank your coffee when I came over to feed her in the morning.  The first time I did she was so offended because I wasn’t you.  She bit at my leg a little bit, though I can’t tell if that’s because she recognized me and remembered that she played with my legs all through her kittenhood or because it had been so long that she really thought I was stealing your coffee.  She warmed up as soon as I fed her and played with her for a bit though.”

Keith laughed to himself.  He loved Cinnamon so much.  “The first two days we were at Shiro’s I slept until he came home from work.  Afterwards he had the serious Talk with me about leaving here.”

“Yeah, if you’re not union they really overwork you.  That’s really why I joined but I understand that’s not really an option for everyone.”  Thace confessed.

“I’m not ready to go union.  I don’t think I know enough of what I want to do.”

“And I’m not saying that you have to.  I’m glad you got that worked out.”  Thace took a bite of his sandwich.  “Do you know what you’re doing when you leave here?”

“Yeah, actually.”  Keith swallowed, “do you remember Kolivan?  He was an outside director on a couple of projects last year.”  Thace nodded.  “A friend of mine knows him and he said that once I leave here he’ll let me work on a few projects with him.  Since all his leading crew is union they really stick to union hours since they have a small crew.  Shiro was really happy when I told him about that.”

“Well you’ll still be working in town at least!  And when Kolivan is working with the station you’re bound to be back with everyone, so even though you’re going, it won’t be far.”  Thace was always great about reassuring Keith’s decisions.  “So, Cinnamon loves Die Hard.”

“Yeah she does!  I haven’t watched it in a while but it’s the one movie she will actually sit still for!”  Keith exclaimed.  Thinking for a moment he added, “Wait, why were you watching Die Hard?  It’s not Christmas.”

Thace shrugged, “it was on public access for some reason.  I didn’t quite get it but I wasn’t about to question it.

“Fair enough.”  Keith bit his lip.  “Okay, I do need your help with something.”

Thace glanced at him, “is it a work thing?”

“No, it’s a,” Keith struggled to find the words, “relationship thing?  I don’t know what it is honestly?”

Thace’s face lit up.  “Holy shit!  You never come to me for this!  I am all ears!”  Thace couldn’t contain his excitement.  He slid his plate to the side to fold his arms under his chin.

“Remind me again why I come to you.”

“Because I’m a great listener and also your friend now continue.”

“God, fine.”  Keith breathed.  “So Thursday night I was super nervous about the whole meeting with Coran and talking about my future.  It’s just not something I do, I’m short term.  Mr. Impulse.  So this whole thing had me nervous and this guy I was rooming with helped talk me down and got me coffee the next morning before we headed out.”

“Sweetheart coffee boy needs a name if you’re going to talk about him for more than a sentence.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Lance.  Okay so when we were talking he made this bet that was basically if my meeting with Coran was a bust and terrible he would buy a consolation dinner and then if it went well he said I would owe him dinner for being right.  So we went out the next day –“

“Like, went out went out?  Or just ‘we went to dinner in a place outside’ out?”

“That’s the part I’m having trouble with, hold your horses.  So I ended up paying for dinner, but Lance insisted on paying for drinks and we really just sit there and just talked.  It was really nice and I kinda feel there were vague ‘date’ vibes but we’re just friends!  We play DND together and record it for the internet!”

As Keith lowered his head into his hands, Thace took the opportunity.  “Would you have been upset if it was a date?”

Keith’s breath caught in his throat and started coughing, “What?  That’s not the question right now!”

“It’s a question and I just asked it.  Besides,” Thace pointed at Keith, “this is all the answer I need.”  Giving Keith time to recover, he hesitated before asking another question.  “Have you talked to him since?”

“I sent him a text before I left this morning but he lives in California so he probably didn’t see it.”  Keith shrugged in his own defense, Thace just stared at him.  “What?”

“Oh my god, you’re hopeless.  Get out your phone already!”

Keith rolled his eyes, digging into his jacket pocket.  Looking down he had an email notification from Ulaz with the paperwork he needed to fill out to make his notice official, as well as a series of text messages from Lance.

 **Keith:** Who knew quitting a full time job would be this terrifying with me luck

 **Lance:** You don’t need luck!!!  Everything is going to work out fine!!!!!

 **Lance:** But if it will make you feel better I’ll mail you one of my rabbit’s foot keychains!

 **Lance:** Let me know how it goes later!!!!

 **Lance:** We’re all rooting for you!!!!

Keith glanced down and couldn’t help smile at the last message of clover and horseshoe emojis, knowing full well that Thace would say something.

Keith was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t pry or taunt him with endless ‘I told you so’s’.

\---

When his one month was up, he called Kolivan.  He said he was halfway through a shoot but had a new one lined up for Monday that he would list Keith on the crew for. 

Keith now had 5 days off work with nothing to do but buy groceries, do laundry, and cuddle Cinnamon.

By the end of the second day he was restless. 

After much convincing, Pidge agreed to let him work on editing.  He sat down at his computer, plugging in Pidge’s extra monitor as he gets a phone call from Kolivan.  “Hello, this is Keith.”

“So, I know I told you until Monday, but one of our researchers we needed to interview for this shoot had to cancel his flight last minute.  He did give us the option that if we can find enough of a crew to go out there and interview him we could do that or he would be willing to skype in.”

“Okay?”  Keith raised his eyebrows, knowing Kolivan couldn’t see that, anticipating what came next.

“Personally, I would prefer to shoot in person since it looks a lot better than skype feed one hundred percent of the time and we’re underbudget so we have the option.  I know you’ve been trained at PBS so you know a thing or two already, but how to you feel about flying out to San Diego this weekend?  I need to you run audio.”

Before thinking through any sort of logistics, Keith replied, “yes, I’ll do it.”

Kolivan audibly sighed in relief, “thank you.  I’ll have Amalia email you with the information we need to get your ticket booked.  You will be flying out tomorrow morning to record on Saturday.  I’ll get you in contact with our sound guy here so he can send you our levels we’re working with.  It’s going to be a quick turnaround since I will still need you on Monday.  Now is the time to say no if this doesn’t work for you.”

“Thanks, Kolivan,” Keith started, “This sounds great.  I’ll get Amalia my information as soon as I get her email.”

“Thank you.  I have to get back to set but I look forward to meeting you again on Monday.”  Kolivan hung up the phone. 

Keith stared at his editing setup for a minute before opening a text message to Pidge.

To: **Pidge**

 **Keith:** So there’s been a slight change of plans

Before clarifying, he opened Lance’s contact and sent a new message.

To: **Lance**

 **Keith:** So odd turn of events

 **Keith:** But what are you doing tomorrow night?

 **Keith:** If I remember right I owe you a drink

\---

Lance loved working at the campus radio station.  It helped keep his mind off everything except his playlists and small campus news show he did in the mornings.  It was his time to not think about his classwork, his recording deadlines, his homework, and his slow building crush on his new friend.  He really needed to quit calling Keith a new friend.  It’s been about ten months since they roomed together in LA and since then they kept in contact far beyond basic messages about the Voltron campaign and current projects.

All the events in Washington didn’t help that.  They talked even more often.  It would be an odd day if he didn’t wake up with a message from Keith and Lance ate it up.  Keith, although he didn’t understand everything going on between missing his family and graduating from college, Keith was always there to listen. 

He bit his lip, catching the bar on his computer monitor indicate the end of the song.  “And that was Knock on my Door by Faouzia.  Next up I’m bringing some SZA and DJ Turkey Leg your way, along with a reminder to head to the student center to buy tickets for her show next Tuesday in the ballroom.  Tickets are $10 in advance for students, $15 for the general public, and each of those goes up at the door.  Tickets are going quick so make sure you stop by soon!  This is DJ Blue, signing off.”  He switched off his microphone and started up the next song, prepping the station for the next DJ.

He slipped out of the studio, waved to the next the station manager next to his exit as he slipped on his jacket.  He really didn’t need it in early October, but he loved it none the less.  Picking up his backpack, he pulled out his phone as he walked to the central cafeteria.  He almost ran into the wall across the station reading a series of messages from Keith.

 **Keith:** So odd turn of events

 **Keith:** But what are you doing tomorrow night?

 **Keith:** If I remember right I owe you a drink

 **Lance:** Very confused.  Can you clarify?

 **Keith:** Kolivan called me on a shoot early

 **Keith:** I’m flying to San Diego tomorrow

 **Lance:** HOLY SHIT???

Lance regained his composure before sending out his next message.

 **Lance:** When are you going to be in town? 

 **Keith:** We’re getting in at 4 tomorrow and leaving first thing Sunday

 **Keith:** I already checked with the AD and she said as long as I’m smart and back by 10 I can go out tomorrow

 **Lance:** What TF does that mean???

 **Keith:** Don’t get sloshed cause we have a shoot the next morning

 **Keith:** They don’t know me out there so it makes sense they’re a little skeptical

 **Keith:** What’s weather like? 

 **Keith:** I’m assuming I don’t need hoodies and scarves yet?

 **Lance:** In sunny San Diego?  Never!

 **Lance:** I have class until 5 so message me when you can head out for a couple hours!

Lance put his phone back in his pocket so he didn’t trip over the brick sidewalk again and walked with a bit of a skip in his step to the cafeteria.

As soon as he walked in, Shay stood to wave him over to their table.  He made a bee line.  “Just the people I wanted to see!”  Lance announced as he took his seat.

“We’re the only people you come in here to see, dummy.”  Shay corrected, passing over one of the Tupperware containers.

The three of them had alternated bringing lunch since their third year when their programs started getting super intensive.  The best way they found to make sure everyone ate without spending ten dollars on an overpriced school meal was to hold each other accountable for the well being of the group.  And since they alternated, the cost divided evenly so no one was stuck with a larger bill unless it was self-inflicted. 

“But you’re late, Lance.  Was Alex late again?”  Hunk asked.

“Oh, uh, no.  He was there.”  Lance took a breath, “are you guys doing anything after labs tomorrow?”

Shay blushed a hint at the question, “yeah, one of my friends is opening a gallery so we’re going to go there then head out to her after party reception thing.  It’s this really cool study on rock formations and geodes.  I’ve seen some of the works in progress and then Hunk helped with some of the electrical work on it!”

“That sounds really cool!  Where is it at?  I’ll have to check it out while it’s running.” 

Shay glanced over to Hunk before turning back to Lance, “Do you just want to go with us?”

Lance held up his hands, “No, I wouldn’t want to butt in on you evening.  I actually have plans of my own.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow, “Plans that aren’t replaying Mass Effect for the 70th time?”

“That is not all that I do with my time!”  Lance exclaimed.  “No, Keith’s coming in town for work so we’re going out for drinks tomorrow after he gets settled.”

“You should bring him!  It’ll be like a double date!”  Shay exclaimed, looking towards Hunk for support.

Hunk touched her arm, “no, Shay, it’s not quite like that.”  Hunk turned to look at his best friend, confused by his expression, he asked, “is it?”

Lance bit his lip.  Here come those feelings again.  He would like to go out on a double date with Keith, but at the end of the weekend, Keith would fly back to Chicago and Lance would still be in San Diego.  It wouldn’t work.  “No, of course not.”  He blurted with a little too much force.

Shay looked like she wanted to ask something, but Hunk silently advised her otherwise.  “Gotcha, sorry.”

\---

Lance was exhausted by the time he got out of his physics lab.  After this week, all he really wanted to do was curl up in bed and call his mama for an hour.  He almost forgot about why he was looking forward to being out of class for the day until he checked his phone.

 **Keith:** We’re all settled at the hotel

 **Keith:** Hope class goes well

Lance smiled at his phone, hitting the call button above the messages.  Keith answered on the second ring.  “Hey!  How did class go.”

“Honestly exhausting,” Lance breathed out.  “So, I know we talked about going out to get drinks, but I’m so tired I just want to go through a drive thru and sit at home.  I know you’re in town so if you want to see San Diego we can do that too but,”

“Lance, that sounds just fine to me.”  Keith said through the receiver, “besides, I just offered that as an excuse to hang out with you.”

There he goes again.  Lance’s smile could part clouds make flowers grow right then in that nearly empty parking lot.  “Text me what hotel you’re at.  It’s no Chicago deep dish, but we’ve got an in-n-out near my apartment and every episode of Avatar on DVD.”

“You couldn’t have made it sound better if you tried.  I’ll see you soon.”

“See you.”  Lance hung up, fishing his pocket for his keys.  His phone buzzed as Keith texted the hotel address.  Lance fired up his maps and drove off to meet him.

As far as 5 o’clock traffic on a Friday in San Diego went, it was average.  All the remaining energy he had went towards yelling at other drivers about improper lane changes.  “Has no one in this god damn town heard of a god damn turn signal,” Lance muttered, exiting the highway and turning towards Keith’s hotel.  He pulled up to the front entrance and whipped out his phone, but before he could send a message, Keith walked out the front door.  Lance leaned over to wave, making sure Keith saw him, and unlocked the car.

Lance just looked at Keith as he got in his car, “I can’t believe you’re actually here, good god.”

Keith laughed, “I’ve been having those same feelings all day, don’t worry it’s not just you.” 

They sat in a comfortable silence as Lance navigated the road back to the highway.  As Lance turned onto the road, he caught Keith just looking around in amazement.  “Have you been to in-n-out before?”

“Nope,” Keith answered, “the only time I’ve been somewhere with one was January and ya’ll didn’t want to have fast food at PodCon or something.” 

“Well then, you are in for a treat!”  Lance laughed.  “How was the flight?”

Keith shrugged, “it was fine.  No strange mishaps this time around.  Apparently Chicagoans just don’t take their kids to San Diego on the first Friday in October so that was a nice touch.”

“Ah, that’s the best!”  Lance never really knew what to talk about in car rides.  Too distracting of a conversation, he swerves off the road and it’s a car in the ditch scenario all over again, but he doesn’t want to sound like a dick and just stay quiet.  His hands gripped at the steering wheel a little tighter. 

“How’s your brother doing?”  Keith asked.

Lance’s hands loosened, “he’s doing great.  Anton hardly goes an hour without sending my siblings and I new pictures of his daughter.  You can pull them up on my phone, it should be the second chat in my messages.  The code is 7139.”

Keith reached for his phone, unlocking it, “is he the one in Texas?”

“No, that’s Sophia.  She’s finishing up vet school down there.  Anton is in Georgia.”

Keith nodded, opening the chat Lance mentioned, “holy shit she’s adorable.  Your mom’s up there now?”

“Yeah, she got tickets as soon as she found out Mariah was in labor.  I swear she’s bought everything with ruffles that you would have been able to find in state.”  Lance laughed, knowing that’s exactly what she did when his oldest brother’s two kids were born.  “I’m going to see them for Thanksgiving and it sounds like everyone is going to try and make it out there.”

“That’s great!  I’m glad you get to see them.”

“Me too,” he smiled as he exited the highway.  He hummed along to the radio softly as he pulled into the drive thru of in-n-out.  “Ah yes, in case you forgot, you’re in California.  Welcome to our drive-thru lines.  They take forever.”

Keith let out a single laugh, “great.  I have to wait for my food.  This is homophobia at it’s finest.”  Keith deadpanned, turning to Lance.

Lance couldn’t handle it.  He burst into laughter, accidentally leaning into the horn.  “Oh my god, you’re not allowed to do that.”

“What?  Are you the only one allowed to make jokes?”  Keith asked, nerves peeking through his tone.

“No, that you can do, just give me some warning.  You’re adorable!”  Lance managed to get out through his laughter, shooting himself in the foot for the adorable comment.

Keith faced forward at that, “fuck you.” 

Lance could have sworn he saw Keith’s cheek turn pink. 

“Alright, we’re next.  Can you see the menu well enough?”  Lance asked.

“Yeah.”  He went quiet for a minute as Lance pulled forward.  “I’ll just do a hamburger.”

“Drink?”  Lance looked over at him as the speaker popped on.

“Welcome to In-N-Out, order when you’re ready.”

“Thanks,” Lance responded.

“Coke,” Keith shrugged and whispered at him.

Lance nodded before turning back to the speaker, “Hi, could I get a hamburger combo with a coke, a cheeseburger combo with,” Lance paused, “what the hell I’m a good person and deserve it, with a strawberry shake.”

The speaker cracked back to life, “Alright, I have a hamburger combo with a coke and a cheeseburger combo with a strawberry shake.  Will that be all today?”

“Yes that will!”  Lance announced back, pleased with himself and his choices.

“Alright, your total is on the screen please pay at the first window.  Thank you.”

Lance pulled forward, waiting to actually reach the window as Keith spoke up, “don’t sell yourself short.”

Lance turned to face him as his car hit a stop, “what?”

Keith just stared at him, “you’re a great fucking person, Lance.”

Lance faced the steering wheel, hoping he didn’t look too stupid with the smile that stretched wide across his face.  They made it through the rest of the drive thru line in a pleasant silence.  Lance handed the bag over to Keith before he drove off, getting back onto the main road.

Keith opened the bag to steal a fry, and Lance gave him a look.  “Bag tax.”

Lance laughed, “fine, but at least pass me a fry.”

“No.”  Keith turned to him, “they’re hot.  Can’t have you burning your mouth.  I’d like to make it to your apartment in one piece and by car, thank you.”

“It was one time!”  Lance exclaimed.  “I regret telling you about that.”

Keith laughed, “but actually these are really hot and I might have just burnt my mouth a little bit.”  Lance laughed with him as Keith reached for his coke in the center console.

\---

They had voted to start on season 3 when they got to Lance’s apartment.  They were 5 episodes into their mini-marathon sitting on Lance’s couch and leaning into one another, starting small conversations as they came to mind.

“Back when it premiered, Shiro and I set the last episodes to record and then whenever he got mad at me he threatened to delete them.”  Keith mentioned, watching the T.V.  “I knew he would never do it though.  He watched _Sozin’s Comet_ just as much as I did.” 

Lance laughed.  “I recorded it on a VHS.  It lasted a year before Sophia wanted to record the season finale of some show cause she had a soccer game.  When she was going back to watch it was when she realized that it was already recorded on.  She felt so bad that she bought me the entire third season for Christmas that year.”

“Did you not mark the tape at all?”

“Nope.  I couldn’t find the masking tape that day and you can’t exactly read black sharpie on a black tape.” 

Keith glanced over at him, pointing, “that is entirely your fault and you know it.”

“Oh, I know,” Lance laughed, “I think I was really upset with her for 10 minutes, then she showed me the tape and I realized the errors of my ways.” 

Before Keith could put his hand down, Lance grabbed onto it, investigating. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Investigating, don’t worry about it.”  Keith laughed as Lance verbalized his conclusions, “just what I thought.  Rough, just like you.”

Keith lifted his head and looked at Lance, “is that a bad thing?”

“Did I say it was a bad thing?”  Lance looked flabbergasted at him.  “No, it’s not a bad thing.  They’re so,” he paused, looking for words, “you.”

Keith took his hand back, grabbing Lance’s hands, “okay, my turn.”  Lance laughed, “holy shit how much do you moisturize?  They’re so soft!”

“Less than you’d think, I can promise that.” 

Keith held Lance’s hand in his for a moment longer, interrupted by the sound of Lance’s alarm going off on the other side of the couch.  Lance took back his hand to check, only to get upset.

“We have to leave if you’re going to make it to the hotel by 10.”  Lance confessed.

Keith grumbled, sliding over to put on his shoes, “damn it.  Do I have to?”

“If you want to keep your job, probably.”  Lance admitted.  Keith grumbled, knowing Lance was right.  Lance slid on his shoes and looked back at Keith, lacing up his boots on the couch.  “Thanks for letting me know you would be in town.  It’s been nice.”

Keith looked up, beaming, “absolutely!  I really enjoyed getting to see you again.”

Their gaze stuck with each other before Lance broke it off, knowing that Keith needed to get back to his hotel.

\---

**[TW SECTION START HERE]**

Lance was having the worst day in the history of bad days.  Everything that could go wrong did and he didn’t know why.  He was too upset in this state to drive, so he needed to do something.  Hunk had engineering lab until 8 so the best Lance had was to sit in his car and try to calm down enough to drive home. 

He felt his phone buzz in his jacket pocket, but the last thing he wanted to do was look at his broken screen.  Reluctantly he pulled it out, seeing a group message from Keith about their recording schedule for the week.  He stared at it for a second before backing out of the group conversation and hitting call in his contacts.

With each ring he second guessed himself.  Lance almost hung up when he heard a soft, “hey, what’s going on?”

“Honestly I didn’t think you would actually pick up.”  Lance spoke softly.

“Sorry about that, my phone was charging on the other side of the room.  I’m making dinner for when Pidge gets back home.”  Keith paused, “you sound off.  Do you need to talk?”

Lance took a breath, “today has just been shit, Keith.  Hunk’s not out of class yet for me to complain to.  Can I just,” he couldn’t finish is thought.  Lance was struggling keeping his breath even.

“Go ahead, say what you need.  I’m here for you.” 

Lance smiled through ragged breaths, “thank you.”  He found his composure.  “So I guess today it all started on my DJ shift this morning.  I had put on Avicii because they’re amazing and some lady called in and cursed me out for playing them because they reminded me of her ex and everything was my fault and that I was going to hell.  And, usually I just laugh that shit off but I don’t know why it just stuck with me today.”  Lance paused.  When Keith didn’t respond he continued, “then we got our quizzes back in Advanced Theoretical Physics today and I thought I did really well on it and I got a D on it so I guess everything I thought I knew in that is wrong or something.  I can’t afford for that grade to go down.  I’m already busting my ass in that.  I only have a semester and a half left and to get into NASA’s program I have to end with a 3.8 GPA.  I can’t afford a D!

“So I’m texting Hunk after that class, even though I know he won’t see it and I trip on one of our campus bricks and drop my phone.  The screen is cracked so bad that the bottom corner just blacked out.  I just got this phone too, I’m not about to call my papa and tell him I broke another one.”  Lance didn’t stop his tears at this point, he needs to let out his frustration out.  He wipes his eyes on his jacket sleeve and continues, “and two days ago mama called to let me know she and papa won’t be able to join us for Thanksgiving.  I mean, I know it’s an American holiday and none of us really are American, but it’s just a nice excuse to see everyone.  I just miss them.  I miss my bedroom.  I miss the beach.  I miss Rico’s pizza shack.  And I think that’s everything.”

Keith stayed quiet for a minute.  “I don’t want to tell you how to solve your problems, because I hate it when Shiro and Pidge do that to me, but can I make some suggestions?”

Lance let out a soft, “please.”

“First off, that listener can go to hell.  Avicii is amazing and I have at least five of their songs on my morning alarm playlist.”

“Right?  They’re perfect for mornings!  They’re so good and I love their mixes and they make me feel good!”  Lance agreed, wiping his eyes on his sleeve again.

“Exactly!”  Keith exclaimed.  “Do you talk to anyone in your physics class?  I mean I clearly can’t help you myself with theoretical physics in any way, shape, or form, but one of you classmates or your professor might.  Do they have office hours?”  Keith suggested.

“It’s stupid!  All his hours are during my shifts at the radio station!”  Lance started, “I do talk to one other classmate in there, but I think she’s struggling just as much as I am.  We just exchanged this _look_ after we got our quizzes back.”

“Okay,” Keith paused, thinking.  “You might try emailing him if there’s anything specific from the quiz?  Or see if he can meet outside his scheduled hours?”  Lance thought about this while Keith continued, “As far as the phone thing goes, I typically just go to Walmart and buy a temporary there, but I know you are very loyal to your iPhone brand.”  Lance let out a light laugh at that.  “You can buy refurbished ones on eBay.  I don’t know how much those go for, but Pidge buys them sometimes and then takes them apart for parts.  I would message them for their favorite sellers.  They order them all the time so they at least have to be somewhat affordable on a student budget.”

Lance took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out what he wanted to say.  Before he could figure it out, Keith continued.

“As far as your parents go, you might try and skype them this week?  You all would probably benefit from that.  I know they have to miss you just as much as you miss them.”  Lance smiled.  “I mean, I can’t speak from experience because I don’t know them, but hearing how you talk about them.  I have a pretty good feeling.”

“Thanks, Keith.”  He leaned his head back on his seat. 

“I’m always here for you Lance.”  Keith paused, “where are you exactly?”

“School parking lot,” Lance confessed.

“Okay, so I lied to you earlier.  I told you I was only going to make suggestions, but there is one thing I need you to do.  You have to promise me.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “oh really?”

“Yes really.”  Keith continued.  “I’m venmo-ing you 5 bucks.  On your way home, I need you to drive through in-n-out or some other place that has shakes, and get yourself a strawberry shake.  I know it won’t solve your problems, but it’s hard to be upset when you’re drinking a milkshake.”

Lance laughed, “I’ll head there right now.”  He grabbed his keys, sticking them in the ignition, waiting to turn.  “Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind staying on the line while I drive home?  I just need to not think about all this while I’m driving.”  Lance bit his lip, praying he wasn’t too transparent.

“Absolutely.  Do you want me to talk with your or talk to you?” 

“To.  I don’t trust my ability to hold a conversation right now.”

Keith took a breath, “if you ask me, you’re doing pretty well right now.  But I understand.”  Keith paused, thinking for a minute, “I’m trying to sort through some research for Pidge and my show we’re recording next week, can I go through some of that?”

“Ooh!  That would be perfect actually.  Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker,” Lance held his phone away from his ear, hitting the button before mounting his phone onto his GPS stand, “alright, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Keith responded.

Lance smiled as he turned the key, “so what’s the subject this week?”

“Dyatlov Pass.”  Keith shuffled some papers around on the other line, likely trying to organize some notes, “Okay so basically a group of very experienced hikers go missing on a hike through a Soviet Mountain pass in 1958.”  Keith started as Lance left the parking lot.

\---

It had been a couple of weeks since their first phone call, but Keith loved when Lance called on his drive home to talk to him about his day.  He was so thankful when Lance understood Keith’s strange work schedule, and on those days would call Keith when he got home.

[ **Lance:** But you’re off work now and I have to tell you about my Physics test!!!

 **Keith:** I’m not going to be that person who has a loud phone conversation on the bus

 **Keith:** Just text me about it?

 **Lance:** NO! It’s too good trust me ;D]

“Oh!  We finally got everything submitted to the National Science Fair!  We should hear back by Friday if we were accepted and then another week after that to figure out what expo we’re presenting at.  Personally, I don’t want to go to San Francisco because knowing our professors, they’ll make us drive.”

“Where else would they send you?”  Keith asked, stirring dinner.

Lance’s smirk could be heard from miles away, “funny you should ask that.  There are 4 fairs.  San Fran, DC, Orlando – which my group partners are rooting for, and Chicago – which I am rooting for.  I keep telling them that we wouldn’t even be in Orlando long enough to do anything they would want to do there.  We have final exams the next week so it’s not like we can take an extra day after the fair.” 

Keith couldn’t believe it.  What are the chances?  He had just gone to visit Lance a month ago, and now Lance might be coming up to Chicago in a month.  Keith breathed, trying not to get his hopes up too high – after all he might not even come up at all.  “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”

“Me too.”  Lance confessed.  They fell into a comfortable silence for a little while.  “So I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

Keith raised his eyebrow.  Trying not to be hopeful, he answered, “whats up?”

Lance took a deep breath, “so I want tot start by saying that I really like talking to you and if what I say doesn’t jive with you just let me know and I’ll back off.  But I really like you.  Like, like you, like you sort of ways.  God I sound like a high schooler.”  Lance caught his breath, and Keith caught his, “and I know that you’re in Chicago and I’m in San Deigo and distance sucks ass and time zones don’t help.  But I guess what I’m saying is if you wanted to try dating, I would really like that.”

Keith stood in the kitchen, wide smile on his face, in a stunned silence.

“Keith?  Oh my god you’re mad aren’t you, shit forget I said anything,” Lance started backpedaling.

Keith hurriedly replied, “No, no, not that at all.  I just can’t believe it, I guess?  God, Lance, I really like you.  Let’s try dating, see how it’s going to work.  Maybe a two month trial period before Pod Con?  If it doesn’t work out then we can give it time and go back to just being friends, but I don’t want to think about that alternative.”

“Oh my god, really?  So, what?  Are we dating now?”  Lance asked.

“I think so,” Keith smiled, looking around his kitchen.  “Oh, shit,” he shout-whispered, running to the stovetop where his pasta water is boiling over.

“Everything okay over there?”

Keith laughed, “yeah, just trying to burn dinner over here, don’t worry about it.”

“Good job.”  Lance paused.  “So, while we’re trying this out, would you be okay with just keeping this between us for a little bit?  If this doesn’t work I don’t want Hunk to resent you like he has with all of my exes so far.”

Keith stirred his pot while he spoke, “Yeah, that sounds great.  Let’s get a handle of what we’re getting into before diving head first.”

“If it’s you in the pool, I’d dive in head first any day.”

Keith nearly dropped his spoon, “you can’t just say stuff like that!”

“I’m dating you now!  It’s in the rules that I can!”  Lance responded with the same vigor.

“Right, right.”  Keith grabbed onto the spoon again, “that’s going to take a little getting used to.”

“Honestly it’s took me a second to remember I didn’t have to bite off my tongue when that came out of my mouth.” 

Keith laughed as Pidge walked through their front door.  “Oh hey, Satan’s offspring just showed up.”  Lance laughed on the other end of the phone.

“Fuck off.  Who are you talking to?”

Keith grumbled, “hello to you too, and Lance.”

“Hi Lance!” Pidge got up and shouted into Keith’s ear.  “Keith has to go now.”

“Damn,” Lance breathed out.  “I guess someone has to make sure the gremlin doesn’t get out after 8.”

“It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.  Talk to you soon, Lance.”

Lance laughed, “See you,” he added before hanging up.

Pidge stared at Keith from the kitchen table, “so what?  You guys talk on the phone now?”

“Yeah.”

“You liiiiike him, don’t you?”  Pidge taunted.

Keith took a breath, turning to stir the pot of pasta on the stove, “you got me to admit it once, and I’m never doing that again.”

“Fuck you,” Pidge grumbled.

\---

Keith was sitting on the train, on his way home from a late shoot when he received a flurry of text messages from Lance.

 **Lance:** ARE YOU HOME YET??

 **Lance:** THIS IS IMPORTANT

 **Lance:** I’D EVEN CALL IT A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH!!

 **Keith:** Not yet, what’s wrong?

 **Keith:** Who’s dying?

 **Lance:** Where are you?

 **Keith:** On the train, should be home in 20.

 **Lance:** Please hurry I can’t wait that long

 **Keith:** Yes, let me just go talk to the conductor

 **Keith:** I know you’re going 80 mph but you need to go faster

 **Keith:** My boyfriend needs me

 **Lance:** !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **Keith:** What?

 **Lance:** I still can’t get over you calling me your boyfriend

 **Keith:** You are though?

 **Lance:** Hell yeah I am \^v^/

Keith stuck his phone back in his pocket as the train slid underground for the remainder of his ride.  More than anything, he was ready to get in bed for the night.  They had just wrapped a shoot that the team had been working on for about two weeks, and the last two days were the only times they could get a space that Kolivan wanted to use for a quarter of the film.  Everyone was all-hands-on-deck throughout the span of both days.  When one scene was filming, in between takes the crew would be setting up the next scene.

But Keith had the day off tomorrow and they were planning on getting ahead on the Voltron campaign, knowing Lance had the National Science Fair just before final exams with Hunk and Pidge.  With any luck, Pidge would let him help with editing, but chances of that actually panning out were slim to none. 

The automated system announced his stop, and Keith made his way to the train doors.  He got out his phone as he walked towards the exit, hitting the call icon as soon as he got signal again.

“Hey!  You’re home!”  Keith could hear Lance’s door close in the background.

“Not quite, just off the train.”  Keith admitted, “it looked like you were excited about something so I’m here.”

Lance laughed, “Well, you’re not wrong.  I got an email about my placement for NSF!”  Keith raised his eyebrows in anticipation.  “So, someone in our group got their wish as far as placement goes.”  Lance paused. 

“Lance! This isn’t the time for dramatics!  Are you coming to Chicago?!”

“Babe, you should know by now that it is always time for my dramatics.”  Keith laughed during Lance’s dramatic pause.  Lance couldn’t hold it in anymore, he blurted, “that someone in our group was me.  I’m coming to Chicago!”

Keith could cry right there.  He was going to see Lance, and like hell would he let that boy leave town without taking him out on a proper date.  “What days are you in town for?”

“Our advisor is buying our plane tickets this weekend, but the fair itself is the Thursday through Saturday after Thanksgiving.” 

Keith tried to recall his calendar in his head, recalling a set of 10 out of 12’s in two weeks.  He let out a deep sigh, “well shit.  Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.”

“Wait, you have shoots those days, don’t you?”  Lance asked, brokenhearted.

“Hey, it’ll be fine.  If I’m remembering right, I’m off by 5 on Wednesday, and at the worst, I’m usually off set by 9 on longer days.”  Keith took a breath, pausing at the corner diagonal from his apartment, “Lance, I promise.  We’ll make this work.  If it kills me I will take you on a proper date in two weeks.”

Keith could hear his smile through his response, “I can’t wait.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boyfriends go on a date!!!!!!!

Keith was dismissed from work and not a minute later he was checking his phone.  As expected, he had a flurry of messages in his inbox.

 **Lance:** We just landed!!!!!

 **Lance:** Wow it’s much colder than I was expecting – you weren’t wrong!  >:[

 **Lance:** We have to be out of the fair center by 4 ugh this is stressful!!!!!!

 **Lance:** Okay set up is done!!  We’re out of the expo hall 30 minutes early!!!!

 **Lance:** I’m going to start changing now so I’m ready to go by the time ur off work :3

As he was looking, a new message popped up.

 **Lance:** ITS 5 WHERE ARE U BABE???

 **Keith:** Leaving Kolivan’s office

 **Keith:** You’re staying on Michigan, right?

 **Lance:** Yes!  At the Raffaello.  Right by the Westin.

 **Lance:** It hardly makes sense that the Westin is the sponsor hotel but we’re presenting at McCormick but w/e.

 **Keith:** Great, I’ll be there soon

 **Keith:** You’re right that makes 0 sense

 **Lance:** <3

Keith threw on his nice jacket he brought along for this evening before layering his winter coat over it.  He wrapped his scarf around his face, bracing himself for the December wind and headed for the bus stop.  He always hated navigating Michigan Avenue, but for Lance it was well worth it. 

The ride felt twice as long as it actually was, but before too long he was pulling the chord to get off the bus, and turning down the side street to get to Lance’s hotel.  Before he knew it, he was entering in the revolving doors.  Loosening his scarf around his neck, he dug out his phone to text Lance.

“Keith!”  Lance stood in the middle of the lobby.  Keith could feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest.  As much as he tried, he couldn’t move.  Thankfully Lance bounded over to him in ten seconds, “you made it!  You’re here!”  Lance cupped Keith’s face in his hands, as if believing that he will disappear if he doesn’t touch him.

“What do you mean I’m here?  You’re here!”  Keith held onto Lance’s elbows, surveying him.  “You’re here and not at all ready for this weather.”

Lance backed away, modeling for him.  “What do you mean?  I am wearing a coat.  Believe it or not, I do own one.”

“That’s not gonna do shit except make you look cute, babe.  Peacoats are weak against the Chicago wind.”  Keith laughed, pulling his backpack off his back.  Reaching in he pulled out an extra hat, scarf, and pair of gloves, handing them to Lance, “I know they’re not your aesthetic, but you’ll thank me later.  I promise.”

Lance started putting on the garments, “oh please, I was made for this weather.”

Keith laughed, “you, a kid from Cuba who moved to San Diego?  I don’t believe it for a second.”

Lance huffed, “well fine then.  If you’re just going to insult me, have at it.  I was under the impression that you wanted to go on a date, but I could be wrong.”

Keith’s smile could light up the room, “I’m sorry, let me start over.  Lance McClain, you are looking beautiful tonight.  I was wondering if you would care to accompany me on a date to consume the finest and cheesiest deep dish Chicago has to offer.”

“I was beginning to think you would never ask,” Lance commented before latching onto Keith’s elbow, sealing the movement with a quick kiss on his cheek.  “Lead the way!”

Keith readjusted his scarf to shield him from the chill outside before leading the two of them out the revolving doors.  “Are you okay with walking?  We could bus over there but there’s a connection and it’s only a fifteen minute walk.”

“Then we walk!  A little Chicago wind won’t kill me, believe it or not,” Lance clarified.

Keith laughed, “How was your flight?”

“I couldn’t tell you.  I slept through all of it.  My presentation group had to nudge me awake when we landed.”

“And they’re not upset at you for being away tonight?”  Keith asked.

“Oh no!  I triple checked with them this morning.  I just have to be around tomorrow night for sure. Tomorrow’s expo is for the participants and their staff to look at everyone’s displays.  Friday we actually defend our research and practical projects to the judge panel, and Saturday we have actual industry people coming in and they announce the results from judging at the end of the day.”  Lance informed him, rubbing his gloved hand against Keith’s bicep. 

Keith leaned into his touch a little bit.  “You all are going to do amazing.  Everyone’s going to be so impressed and you’re going to walk away with 700 job offers.”

“You’re just saying that because you have to,” Lance laughed.  “But thank you.”

\---

Lance was amazed.  Completely blown away.  Chicago pizza was the real deal and worth every second of hype that Keith and Pidge had given it.  The restaurant had a rustic feeling that didn’t quite fit in with the industrial tone of the rest of the city, and Lance could understand why Keith loved this place so much.  He swears he saw Keith take four pills just to eat one slice, “what?  It’s worth it!”  As their dinner slowed down, their conversations continued on. 

“For the past few days, I’ve been on a research team for this documentary.  It’s been really rewarding.  So far I’ve gone through some of the prop boxes and gotten rid of a bunch of stuff because it was the wrong period that we’re recreating.”  Keith told him.  “I mean it was minor stuff, really.  Honestly I’m just being picky that we don’t have the wrong sigils.  We about used one piece that the main symbol on it wasn’t used for 500 years after our subject.”

Lance laughed, “what?  How do you even catch those things?”

Keith shrugged, shoving another bite of garlic bread in his mouth.  Their server stopped by to drop off their check.  Keith gabbed it, not letting Lance argue about it for a second.  Setting it down, Keith glanced down at his watch, “oh shit, is it that late already?”

“How late is late?”  Lance asked between the final bites of pizza left on his plate. 

“It’s just past 7.  I mean it’s not bad,” Keith held up his hands, “I just need to feed Cinnamon at some point.  If you want to go out and do more sight-seeing, we can do that.  I just have to call Thace.  But at this point all the museums are halfway across downtown and closing soon if they’re not closed already and the Navy Pier is usually really nice but it’s really cold after the sun sets.”

“Hey, I’m just here to spend time with you.  I am honestly up for anything.”  Lance bit his lip, dragging out the next bit.  “If you have to go take care of your baby, I understand.”

Keith sent out a quiet, “thanks,” as their server stopped by the pick up the check.  He bit his lip, “would you want to meet her?”

_‘Come home with me?’_

“I’d love to.”  Lance answered in a second.

Keith’s smile lit up the room.  Lance swore he would never want to stop seeing that.  “My apartment is just a train ride from here so if you need to get back tonight, I’ll ride with you.  Otherwise I have to be downtown for the shoot at 8:30 tomorrow, so I can also get you back then.  I don’t know, it’s up to you.”  Keith blurted out, clearly nervous.

Lance reached for Keith’s hands, “Keith, I’d love to.  I want to spend time with you, okay?”

“Okay.”  Keith’s smile was so fond, and was only interrupted by the server returning the receipt and his card.  Keith looked it over, filled out the tip and signing it before turning back to Lance.  “Are you ready then?”

“For you?  Always.”

\---

The cityscape of Chicago blew Lance’s mind the more he looked out at it.  Seeing the train yards from the train really clashed with the parks and high-rise buildings they bordered.  Before too long, the train moved underground.  Lance let out a defeated breath. 

“I told you that was going to happen.”  Keith stuffed his phone back into his pocket.  “Pidge is still in the library for a few hours.”

‘Oh right, our agreement.’  Lance was starting to get a little upset with himself for agreeing to keep their relationship quiet for a little bit.  He and Hunk shared everything with each other and it just felt wrong to keep this from him.  Lance was the first person Hunk told when he went out his first date with Shay, and the one he practiced his speech on when he asked her to be his girlfriend.  Lance was so happy right now, and he wanted nothing more than to share that with his best friend.

Lance was brought back out of his thoughts by Keith leaning his head onto his shoulder.  Glancing up at him he asked, “you doing alright?”

Lance laced his fingers through Keith’s, “yeah, I’m fine.”

Keith wasn’t buying it, “okay.”  He turned to face forward again, squeezing Lance’s hand, “I won’t make you, but if you want to talk about it, I’m right here.”

“I know.”  Lance tilted his head to kiss the top of Keith’s head.

They sat in a peaceful silence for the rest of the ride, Keith only stirring to tell Lance their stop is next.  As they got out of the car, Keith led the way to his building. 

“I guess,” Lance didn’t mean to start talking but there was no going back now.  “I guess it just feels weird keeping this all from Hunk.  We tell each other everything and it feels like I’m going behind his back with all this.”

“Then you should tell him.”  Keith looked at him, “I know we said we would wait to talk about it, but if it will make you feel better you should tell him.  Whatever happens next will happen, but we can face that together.”

Sometimes Lance hated how Keith knew exactly what to say, this wasn’t one of those times.  “This last month has been so hard.  Sneaking around the apartment trying to call you.”  Lance caught his breath.  “Not going to lie, it was a lot of fun though.”  Keith laughed at that.  “But it’s who I am.  I share my happiness with everyone and I just want to show you off to the world.”

Keith squeezed his hand, Lance only realizing now that the never let go. 

“And I get it, you’re not a public person in the slightest.  Hell, it took you years to come to any sort of Pod Con and only then did any of us ever see you in person.  I mean, besides Shiro and the Holts but that’s besides the point.”  Lance breathed, “I’m getting off topic.”

“Just a little, but please continue.”  Keith held the door to his building open for Lance.

Lance smiled, “I guess what I’m trying to say is we don’t have to tell the world about us right away.  Just getting to talk about you with Hunk and our friends would mean the world to me.  Maybe even get to tell mama about you when I go home in two weeks.” 

Keith stopped them at the end of a hallway, what Lance assumed to be his apartment, grabbing both of his hands.  “Lance, please.  Tell everyone you want to.  Talk to your mom, tell Hunk.  I wish I had known this was bothering you sooner.”  He breathed, “I just want you to be happy.”  The look on his face was so genuine.  Like there was no where in the world he wanted to be except right there.

Lance did his best to return the gesture, “I really am.”  He leaned forward, taking one of his hands to move the bangs away from Keith’s forehead to place a soft kiss right there.

Keith glanced down, smile on his face and blush on his cheeks.  “You wanna hear something funny?”  Lance nodded as Keith dug his keys out of his pocket.  He placed one finger to his mouth before jingling his keys and unlocking the door.

Before opening the door, they boys could hear the smallest yell from the other side.  She wasn’t stopping.  Keith opened the door and rushed over to scoop up Cinnamon before she escaped.  “Do you mind grabbing the keys?”  Lance shook his head, pulling the keys out the lock and shutting the door.  “Lance, this is Cinnamon.  Cinnamon, this is Lance.” 

Lance slipped off his gloves to stick a finger in front of her nose before going in to pet her.  She tolerated that for about ten seconds before she turned her attention back to yelling at her dad.

Keith grumbled, walking into the kitchen, “I know, I know, I’m late.  I’m sorry.  How about I give you an extra treat with dinner tonight?  Will that make it up to you?” 

Lance couldn’t handle how incredibly adorable his boyfriend was.  They say you can tell a lot about someone by how they talk to their pets, or at least Hunk says that, and right now Keith was speaking volumes.

Keith stood up from Cinnamon’s food bowl.  “So, here it is.  Our living room is pretty sad because neither of us spend a lot of time out here except for recording, so Cinnamon has claimed the space as her own.”  Lance looked down at the two pillow cushions and dozens of cat toys all over the floor.  “We thought about getting a couch, but that would mean moving it up 3 flights of stairs.  Neither of us were into that and all we do out here is play video games or watch Netflix so the pillow system works for us.”  Keith explained.

Keith led him down the short hallway, “straight ahead is the bathroom, on the right is the hall closet and Pidge’s room.  And on the left is my room.”  Keith pushed open his door the rest of the way and headed in.  “Are you sure you’re alright with staying the night?  I can get you back to your hotel tonight if you need to.”

Lance smiled at him in the doorway, “Keith, I’m positive.”

Keith brushed a loose strand of hair behind his ear as he kneeled down in front of his dresser.  “If you’re sure, I can at least offer you something more comfortable.”  He shuffled through his drawer, “I think these are the longest pajamas I have, so hopefully they work.”

“They’ll work just fine,” Lance stepped into his room, “thanks.”

“Of course.”  Keith said, grabbing a set of jammies for himself before walking towards the door, “I’ll just be in the bathroom.”

Lance laughed out, “alright, see you soon.”  Left alone, he took the chance he had to look around at his room.  The walls were mostly bare, spare for a few vintage series NASA posters and a cork board covered in photographs above his desk.  He recognized Keith and Shiro in a series of them, at different points in their lives.  There was one with Keith at Shiro’s graduation with an older woman, Lance assumes it’s their mom.  At the bottom of the board there was a photoshop edit of the ‘do it for her’ meme of pictures of Cinnamon.  Lance laughed at that one.

Propped against the wall, his bed was unmade since waking up this morning, with two oddly colored blankets at the foot of his bed.  Lance assumed those were Cinnamon’s.  In the center of the bed surrounded by pillows was a stuffed red hippo.  Lance smiled.  It was really nice to see that despite Keith’s rough-and-tumble exterior, he really had a soft core. 

His dresser on the wall was covered with three different coffee mugs and the old hoodie Lance recognized from the last two cons they met up at.  He turned back to the door, meeting Keith in his doorway.  “Bathroom’s all yours if you need it.”

“Thanks,” Lance shuffled past him, heading down the hall.

When he returned into Keith’s room, Keith was sitting down on his bed playing on his phone with Cinnamon curled up at his feet.  “You can set your stuff anywhere.  I can’t promise that I vacuumed in the past month though.”  Lance laughed, setting his clothes and coat on Keith’s desk chair.  Keith put his phone on the side table by his bed, “so, when did you want to tell Hunk?”

Lance crawled onto his bed behind him, wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist, “I’ll talk to him when I get back home.  Sure it’s still a few more days of waiting, but I can’t miss his reaction.  A phone call wont cut it for this one.”

“What do you mean?”  Keith turned his head towards him.

“There may have been a few nights I’d go into his room after calling you, complaining about this massive crush I have.”

Keith covered his eyes, laughing.  Lance just sat in awe of how lucky he was.

Once Keith regained his composure, he slid away from Lance.  “I know it’s not super late but I’m still vaguely tired.  Would you be opposed if I dug out my laptop and we just watched Netflix and cuddled for a bit?”

Lance smirked, “you couldn’t have made that sound better if you tried.”

\---

Keith really hated his early mornings, but having Lance at his side really made it a lot more bearable.  In typical fashion, he woke up to his first alarm.  Lance had hardly stirred.  Keith quickly left a kiss on Lance’s cheek before grabbing his clothes and slipping out to take a shower. 

When he came back into his room, he was drying off his hair when Lance rolled over, “you weren’t here.  I was afraid you left.”

“Leave you?  Here?”  Keith moved to sat on the edge of the bed, “please, babe.  You would get lost in a minute.”  He spoke softly, knowing full well that after living in the city for five years, he still gets lost.

Lance leaned into him, wrapping around his waist.  “You know, you’re probably not wrong.”

Keith laughed, his hands finding Lances.  “Come on, do you want some coffee?”

“Yes, please.” 

Keith got up and headed for the kitchen followed close behind by Cinnamon who knew exactly what time it was.  After pouring her breakfast, he got out his coffee grounds to begin pouring his.  Waiting on the coffee maker, he felt Lance’s arms wrap around his waist.  The only sound filling the air was Cinnamon munching on her food and the coffee pot warming up.

Keith poured two mugs, passing one off to Lance.  They spoke quietly, talking into their coffee, trying not to wake Pidge.  “I think I heard them come in around 3,” Keith whispered, “but I couldn’t tell you for sure.”  He took a sip, “being a light sleeper sucks when your roommate is nocturnal.”

Lance laughed.  “I wouldn’t know.  I’m usually the nocturnal one back home.”

“That’s not something to brag about.”

Lance shrugged, “I know.”

As they finished their drinks, they placed the mugs into the sink.  Keith figured he would deal with those when he got home tonight.  They made their way back into Keith’s room to finish getting ready. 

Lance picked up his pile of clothes from the night before and went into the bathroom to change while Keith got his work computer ready for the shoot today, making sure to grab his phone charger before sealing the bag.  He met with Lance in the doorway, who handed him his pajamas from the night before, neatly folded.  “Thanks again for letting me use these.”

“Of course,” Keith took the clothes, placing them back onto the office chair.  One more thing for future Keith to handle.  “You ready to head out?”

“Physically, yes.  Emotionally, no.”

Keith laughed, “me too.”

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and didn’t let go until they reached his hotel.

“You really didn’t have to walk me all the way here.”  Lance said, facing Keith outside his hotel.

“Lance, I have the reputation of a well-respecting boyfriend to uphold.  Of course I’m going to walk you all the way here.”  He wasn’t going to add that his set is three blocks away so even if they missed their first train he would have walked him to the door.

Lance leaned in, hugging Keith tight.  After a minute, he leaned back again.  Not quite letting go, just holding him there at arm’s length for as long as he can.

Lance spoke first.  “Can I kiss you?  Like, actually kiss you.”

Keith barely managed a soft “please” before closing the gap between them.

\---

Pidge woke up at 10 am.  Their code review last night really knocked them out, and they really didn’t want to go to their programming lecture today.  They managed to roll out of bed, looking forward to whatever remains of coffee that Keith always left.

Taking out a mug and the coffee pot, it took them thirty seconds of attempted pouring for them to realize the pot was empty.  “What the fuck, Keith?”  They began filling the pot with water to brew a new batch when they noticed the two coffee mugs in the sink. 

They set the pot down before pouring the water into the pot before looking again, realizing that neither of these would have been used yesterday.  If Keith had had coffee at dinner, there would be at least a plate in the sink with it. 

No, these were definitely from this morning.  “Why the fuck would he need two mugs?  God he’s so extra.”  Pidge went back to pouring the water into the machine and filling the maker with a new dose of grounds.  Walking to the trashcan, they noticed Keith’s jacket on one of their kitchen chairs.  Moving forward to investigate, they realized it’s Keith’s jacket that he saves for two things.

Job interviews and dates.

“Keith!  Holy fuck!”  Pidge nearly forgot to dispose the coffee filter in their hand before running to get their phone.

To: **Hunk**

 **Pidge:** HOUSTON WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM

\---

Lance had just landed in San Diego, and was waiting by baggage claim for Hunk to pick him up.  After about five false alarms, he finally saw him.  Hunk popped the trunk and Lance threw in his bags as quick as possible.  He quickly ran into the passenger seat and buckled in so Hunk could leave.

“You’re back!  How was the fair?”  Hunk asked, making the drive out to the main road.

“Great!  We got second!”  Lance dug out his phone and opened up a message to Keith.

To: Keith

Lance: Hunk just picked me up!

Lance: T -30 minutes until I tell him! <3

Lance: It’s just not fair to spring this on a pure good driving boy!!

Keith: Good luck!

Keith: I haven’t been home and awake at the same time as Pidge since last Monday so who knows when I’ll talk to them

Lance: You can do it!! :3

“Who are you talking to?”  Hunk asked, peering at him from the corner of his eye.

“Keith.”

Hunk visibly tightened, his knuckles whitening around the steering wheel.

“Is everything okay?”

“What?  Yeah, everything’s great.  You want a milkshake?  Let’s get milkshakes before we go home.”

Lance raised an eyebrow.  “You’re acting weird and we’re definitely talking about this when we get home.”  He pulled at the aux chord from the radio and plugged in his phone and turning on Shakira. 

They made it home without much incident otherwise.  They brought Lance’s bags inside, and Lance made his way to the couch.  He patted the space next to him for Hunk to join him.  “Something’s bothering you.  What’s wrong?”

Hunk opened and closed his mouth without saying anything a few times.  “Let me figure out how I want to say it.”

“Okaaaay,” Lance exaggerated.  “I do have something I want to tell you though!  It’s about Keith.”

Hunk twisted his milkshake around in his hands, “that’s what I wanted to talk to you about too.”  Lance raised an eyebrow.  “You know that I love you and have nothing but your best interest at heart, right?”

Lance nodded.

“I don’t think he’s good news.”

“What?  No, Hunk he’s great news!”

“Lance, please let me finish.”  Hunk took a breath, “look, I was talking to Pidge the other day and they’re pretty sure he had a guy over last week.  I know you two are really close and you keep complaining to me about your big bisexual crush on him, but I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

‘Holy shit how did they find out?’ Lance thought, slurping his milkshake.  “Thank you, Hunk.  I appreciate you so much.  Your smile brings me sunshine on a daily basis.  But I promise you, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Lance, you’re not listening to me.  Clearly if he’s going to sleep with other guys, he’s not just interested in you.”  Hunk began pleading with him.

Lance took a breath, “okay Hunk, I hear you.  Now can I tell you about expo a little bit?”

Hunk sighed, “fine.  What happened at expo?”

Lance crossed his legs, resting his milkshake in his lap so it wouldn’t spill while he talked with his hands.  “Okay, so I lied it was the day before expo.  I went on a date.”

“What?”  Hunk’s mouth dropped so fast it almost hit the floor.

“Let me finish.”  Lance composed himself, recalling the night left a fond smile on his face.  “I went on a date and it was the best first date I’ve been on in a long time.  We got pizza then went back to his apartment.  He introduced me to his cat.”

Hunk buried his face in his palms, “I don’t want to know where this is going.”

“Yes you do!  Now hush up and listen!”  Lance took a breath, “we just hung out.  I slept over and in the morning we had coffee and he walked me back to the hotel and kissed me.  I hated that I had to go get ready for expo and he had to go to work, but just that one night of seeing him when I was in Chicago was worth it.”

Hunk looked up, “you never told me expo was in Chicago.”

"What?  I could have sworn I did!"  Lance shook his head.  “I got to see my boyfriend.  For the first time since we started dating a month ago.”  Hunk shook his head, about to say something but Lance quickly filled in that thought.  “We decided – Keith and I decided to keep it just between us until we figured out what we were doing or even if this long-distance thing would work out between us. 

“I really hated lying to you and hiding everything and he completely understood.  So I’m telling you now.  When I went to Chicago for the Science Fair, I went out on a date with my boyfriend who just happens to be Keith.”

Hunk started rubbing at his face, “god damnit you were not supposed to make me cry today.”  He took a few breaths to compose himself, “now I have to ask the important thing.  Are you happy?”

Lance smiled back fondly, “extremely.”

\---

For Keith, the cab ride to their Los Angeles hotel was longer than ever.  He wasn’t nearly as distracted by the sights as he was last year and found himself.  He passed the time tapping his leg and scrolling aimlessly on his twitter feed, waiting for text messages. 

Keith was the first one out the car when they pulled up, leaving Pidge to pay the cab fee.  He went to start pulling their bags out of the trunk.  In between setting down each, he took a look down the road, hoping he didn’t miss seeing them.  Grabbing the last bag out of the trunk, he turned to set it down.  Looking up, he made eye contact with the most beautiful boy in the world.

Keith was only lucky enough to call him his boyfriend.  Lance ran over to him, wrapping his arms around him in an instant.  “Babe!  You made it!”

“Oh my god, help us get our shit upstairs and you can have him all you want.”  Pidge grumbled as they got out of the cab.  “Hey Hunk!”  Pidge waved at him.

Hunk followed Pidge’s lead, rolling a suitcase towards the door, “hey, how was the flight?” 

“Great, except this kid wouldn’t stop shaking.  It’s like he was excited or something.”  Pidge gestured to Keith.

“I know the feeling.  Lance was pushing me out the door this morning because he wanted to be here before you all made it in.”  Hunk reached for his con lanyard, “clearly we did.”  Hunk turned around, “hurry up you two, I’m not holding the elevator if you’re not there when we are.”

Keith stepped back, holding Lance at arms length shaking.  “I know it’s just been a month but holy shit, you’re here.”

Lance grabbed one of the bags, holding out his hand, “come on, let’s get you inside.”

Keith tucked his unneeded coat under his arm before grabbing his suitcase.  “After you.”

Lance smiled fondly at his boyfriend before turning to meet up with their two best friends inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue coming soon? Maybe? 
> 
> Please talk to me about my gay ass feeling on tumblr @a-simplepairofpants
> 
> Thank u for reading!! maybe in 20 years i'll finish another fic

**Author's Note:**

> Please talk to me about my au's or dnd on tumblr @a-simplepairofpants


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